CELEBRATING AIDILFITRI ABROAD
Cheap flights the reason many choose to go overseas
DESPITE the depreciation of the ringgit against foreign currencies, Malaysians have somehow developed a new trend — celebrating Hari Raya Aidilfitri overseas.
The tradition of family members gathering at their parents’ home has slowly shifted to celebrating the occasion together at their dream vacation destination.
Breaking the tradition is not easy, but Mohd Ishraf Khairuddin, 34, and his family will celebrate Aidilfitri in Jeju, South Korea, thanks to the cheap flight tickets.
“My mum and wife are avid Korean fans and they have always wanted to visit Jeju.
“Since the tickets were cheap, I bought five tickets, including one for our 7-year-old daughter. It would be a different experience altogether,” he said.
Even with the exchange rate making things costly, Ishraf believes it is worth it.
According to AirAsia, the top five international routes for this festive season through AirAsia X are Kuala Lumpur-Taipei, Kuala Lumpur-Busan, Kuala LumpurDelhi, Kuala Lumpur-Perth and Kuala Lumpur-Jeju.
Over the years, the ringgit has weakened gradually against the South Korean won, from an average of 321.89 won per ringgit in 2014 to 269.23 won on June 8.
As for the Taiwan dollar, the ringgit has weakened from NT$9.2 in 2014 to NT$7.48 per ringgit to date, while against the Australian dollar, the ringgit stands at A$0.33 from A$0.35 in 2014.
This shows that even as the ringgit has weakened against foreign currencies, people’s desire to travel abroad does not fade as long as flight tickets are affordable.
AirAsia, in an email reply to Bernama’s query, said the airline had conducted the Hari Raya Aidilfitri travel promotion from June 4 to June 11 last year with the travel period slotted from Jan 15 to Aug 28 this year.
An average of 50,000 passengers are expected to depart from klia2 daily during the festive season for domestic and international travel.