Robust 9% tourism growth
KOTA KINABALU: The state’s tourism sector managed to record an estimated profit of RM6.396 billion as of last October, thus indicating a robust nine per cent growth compared to the same period last year
Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun noted that the increase saw a surplus of over half a million ringgit from the sector this year.
“2016 was an outstanding year for tourism in Sabah, with total arrivals of 3.427 million. We surpassed the results for 2013, known as the ‘best year in tourism’.
“This year, we are forecasting even better results. Up to last October, we have recorded 2,929,l81 (almost three million) total nett arrivals, an 11.8 per cent increase compared to the same time last year.
“From January to October, we recorded a million international arrivals (1,004,354), a 7.67 per cent increase compared to last year, while domestic arrivals reached 2,011,258, which also saw a 10.5 per cent increase,” Masidi said at the Sabah Tourism Awards 2017 at The Magellan Sutera on Saturday.
He disclosed that on December 20, a new airline called Batik Air (Indonesia) will commence direct flights from Jakarta to Kota Kinabalu, making it the fourth international flight to be operated by Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA).
He also said direct commercial flights between Kota Kinabalu and Beijing, China were expected to commence before Chinese New Year next year, whereby he added that Chinese Consul-General in Kota Kinabalu, Liang Caide had already begun finalizing plans for the direct air link between the two cities.
It is understood that next year KKIA is expected to welcome three new scheduled flights from Chengdu, Changsha and Tianjin in China, as well as numerous chartered flights from the country.
“As of October, a total of 190 chartered flights from North Asia (China, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan) have landed at KKIA,” Masidi said.
“The cruise season has started. Last week over 3,000 passengers from a European cruise arrived at our ports. We are expecting three more cruises up to the year-end or, a total of at least l0,000 more arrivals from all over the world,” he added.
Masidi further contended that starting from next year, his ministry will be focusing on the state’s rural tourism industry as the rural areas of Sabah are also rich in potential.