MAHB wants incentives for tourism industry from Budget 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) hopes the government will provide incentives for the tourism industry in Budget 2018 later this month in order to draw more tourists into the country.

Its managing director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said other countries in the region were improving the quality of their tourism products and services, so Malaysia needed to ensure it remained competitive.

“We want to capture further market share of tourists from countries including China, Indian sub-continent as well as from Europe and the Middle East,” he said at the sidelines of the Investor Relations Awards 2017 yesterday.

He added that it was expecting upgrading works to be done at one or two airports in the country to boost tourist arrivals at these locations.

On the recently announced partnership with US-based Honeywell for a multi-million dollar upgrade project at the KL International Airport (KLIA), Badlisham said the safety approach for aircraft will be upgraded, which will result in better visibility especially during bad weather.

“This is just one of the things we are putting in place. As the technology improves, it allows aircraft to land regardless of weather conditions.

“This is something that we will work on together with the Department of Civil Aviation as it upgrades its air traffic control,” he said.

The group recently announced the partnership, which will see KLIA upgrade to a new airfield ground lighting control and monitoring system.