Plans for more direct flights to Finland and New Zealand

KUALA LUMPUR: The Tourism Ministry plans to establish direct flights to and from Finland and more flights to cities in New Zealand. Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said this was one way to boost tourist arrivals from both countries. She noted that tourists from European countries, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia had spent a substantial sum of money during their visits to Malaysia. Dr Ng said this in her speech after opening the Midori Japanese Steamboat and Buffet Restaurant here yesterday.

One of the ministry’s target next year was to attract more tourists from the three locations, she added. Efforts to initiate direct flights from Finland, she said, would begin with 12 chartered flights from Helsinki to Kuala Lumpur from next week. Bernama quoted Dr Ng as saying that tourist arrivals to Malaysia had quadrupled with an annual growth of 14.1% from 5.5 million in 1998 to 23.65 million last year.

In terms of tourist receipts, she said it had increased six-fold, registering an annual growth rate of 18.1% from RM8.5bil to RM53.4bil in the same period. “These achievements have significantly enhanced Malaysia’s global ranking and for the first time, Malaysia is among the top 10 most visited countries in the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) list.”
-thestar online.