Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Half million China, Taiwan tourists expected into Sabah


KOTA KINABALU: Arrivals from China and Taiwan into Sabah are expected to break the half million mark this year.

Assistant Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Pang Yuk Ming expects a growth of 15% to 20% in China and Taiwan arrivals for 2017.

This is based on the overall arrivals from top market China of roughly around 370,000 to 380,000 in 2016 and the increasing number of airlines expressing their interest to open direct international routes into Sabah this year, he added.

“We expect this year the figure will increase, and including Taiwan (arrivals), will reach more than half a million. Last year, for Taiwan and China, (the) figure was more than 430,000,” said Pang.

“We have been approached by a lot of airlines to open routes into new areas, particularly from Chengdu, Xiamen or even the northern part of China. We are certainly going to receive more tourists from China,” he assured.

The assistant minister said this during the Xiamen Airlines’ Fuzhou to Kota Kinabalu inaugural flight ceremony at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) here yesterday.

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