KOTA KINABALU: The state capital is set to receive more tourist arrivals from China with the commencement of AirAsia’s flights from Wuhan to Kota Kinabalu today.
The airline celebrated the inaugural and exclusively AirAsia-operated route with a send-off ceremony for the Kota Kinabalu-Wuhan flight, which took off at 6.55pm from Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) yesterday with over 70 percent flight load.
Meanwhile, the Wuhan to Kota Kinabalu (KK) arriving this morning at 4.05am was close to 100% full flight load.
“Wuhan City has a population of 8.3 million people. It is right in the middle of China with no seafront. It is an industrial city, because the people are so hardworking they are eager to go out and take a breather and obviously KK is a very convenient place for them to come,” said Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun.
“This is why I believe this sector is going to do well and assure that Chinese visitors will continue to come here,” he added.
According to Masidi, the launching of AirAsia flight to Wuhan would mean an increase to 61 flights between China and Kota Kinabalu per week.
“I believe and am confident of the future for the commercial air traffic between China and Kota Kinabalu. As a single airline, they (AirAsia) have brought in the most number of visitors over to Kota Kinabalu,” he said.
“Last year, they flew in over three million passengers. The number is awesome and I believe the number will increase further. We are more than happy to continue assisting AirAsia in any way and that AirAsia will continue to flourish in its endeavour to fly to other parts of Asia,” added Masidi.
The minister said, Sabah’s tourism players should also leverage on the expected influx of visitors by playing their part to render the best service to tourists so that Sabah’s tourism industry would flourish.
He added that the government shares the success as well as the failure of parties who play a part in Sabah’s tourism industry.
Continue reading (Incl. Pic) at: 100% full Wuhan flight to Kota Kinabalu
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