More Singaporeans visit Sabah last year

KOTA KINABALU: A total of 38,948 tourists from Singapore visited Sabah in 2009, more than double that of the previous year.

According to the Sabah Tourism Board (STB) website which lists tourist arrival figures from 1998, the 2009 figure was the first that surpassed the 20,000 mark.

STB has not explained the phenomenal increase. Tour operators attributed it to the open sky policy that allows low-fare airlines such as Jet Star, Silk Air and Air Asia who, together with the regular-fare services provided by Malaysia Airlines, offer at least five direct flights to Singapore daily.

“With their generally higher income and an exchange rate favouring the Singapore Dollar, the Singaporean tourists find our holiday packages, our resorts and the seafood that they love very affordable,” said a tour operator based here.

But when Minister of Industrial Development Datuk Raymond Tan met with Singapore’s Foreign Minister George Yeo in Singapore recently, the discussion was more on how Sabah can derive more economic gains from the island republic whose GDP per capita exceeds US$35,000.

“The Singapore-Sabah ties are under-explored,” Yeo said, and he invited the Sabah government to carry out investment missions to Singapore to create wider awareness about investment opportunities in Sabah and attract Singaporean tourists.

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Wooing more flights to Sabah

Kota Kinabalu: Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said his Ministry is continuously talking to airline companies for more flights to Sabah.

"We are currently finalising talks with Chinese Southern. I have also met with the managing director of an airline company from Abu Dhabi which is actually already marketing Sabah as a tourism package although there is currently no direct flight to the State due to economic reasons.

"This company is now promoting Sabah as a special holiday package in the European and Middle East markets," he said.

The Ministry has specially chosen this Abu Dhabi-based airline company because of its good marketing network in Europe, he said, adding they were hoping it could start with an indirect flight to Sabah.

Sabah needs to continuously expand its flight connections to ensure a continued expansion of the State's tourism industry, said Masidi, adding he has also talked to Australia's Jetstar but "again the question is about load and the type of planes available."

"Our (Sabah's) stand is that if there is going to be a direct flight between Sabah and Australia, it needs to be either to Perth or Brisbane because there are substantial number of Sabahans living in these two cities É but as I understand there is a problem with the load and type of airplane," he said.

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Sarawak and Terengganu to get flights from Singapore

HULU TERENGGANU: Singapore’s low-cost carrier Tiger Airways is plan­ning to fly direct from the city-state to Kuala Terengganu’s Sultan Mahmud Airport.

The airline is now negotiating the flight frequencies with the Department of Civil Aviation here and Malaysia Airports Berhad.

Meanwhile, in Kuching, Sarawak, State Tourism and Urban Develop­ment Minister Datuk Michael Man­yin said the state was in talks with Tiger Airways and Jetstar Asia to launch direct flights between Singa­pore and Miri.

Michael Manyin said the proposed direct air links would support the state’s efforts to promote tourism attractions, like the Mulu and Niah National Parks and the Kelabit highlands, in the northern region.

“It will allow us to offer our various packages in culture, adventure and nature to entice the Singaporeans, expatriates and tourists in Singapore to the northern region ,” he added during the Sarawak state assembly yesterday.

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Jetstar maiden flight from Singapore lands in Kota Kinabalu

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is upbeat about its tourism growth despite the global economic crisis.

State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said the state was continuing to post growth in international tourism arrivals, including from Europe and Australia.

He said that Australian tourist arrivals increased by 27% between October and November while European arrivals increased by 23%.

Speaking to reporters at the inaugural Jetstar Asia flight to Kota Kinabalu on Tuesday, Masidi said the flight was added assurance that Sabah’s tourism industry was set to grow despite global economic problems.

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Economic crisis not hampering Sabah tourism

KOTA KINABALU: The global economic crisis has not hampered the state’s tourism industry.

The industry continues to flourish as evidenced by this year’s rise in number of tourist arrivals from Australia and Europe, said Tourism, Culture & Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun.

Masidi said the number of Australians arriving in the State is up by 27 percent while for Europeans the figure has gone up by 22 percent.

He was speaking at the inaugural Singapore-Kota Kinabalu-Singapore flight by Jetstar Asia at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) yesterday. Also present at the event was his assistant, Bolkiah Haji Ismail.

Jetstar Asia, a budget airline, will be operating four flights a week and starting 20 December, it will be flying the Singapore-Kota Kinabalu-Singapore route on a daily basis.

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