Sabah expands aviation connections through Route Asia event

 

Sabah Tourism Board chief executive officer Noredah Othman meetings with airlines representatives. -Pic courtesy of Sabah Tourism Board

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is expanding its connections with the aviation sector and with other tourism-related agencies with the Sabah Tourism Board's participation in the Route Asia 2023 event in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The event begins today until Feb 16 and would enable the team to gather information on industry trends, competitor analysis, and customer preferences to help define future tourism development strategies in Sabah.

Route Asia presents Sabah with the chance to promote its attractions, tourism offerings, and infrastructure to a diverse audience of aviation and travel industry experts.

The board chief executive officer Noredah Othman said increasing air connectivity was one of Sabah's top priorities and a key enabler for the growth of the state's tourism industry.

She added that more than 90 per cent of visitor arrivals were by air.

"This event will enable us to have key conversations with senior decision-makers from the region's airlines to rebuild robust international air connectivity into Sabah.

"We want to boost tourism growth by fostering new business relationships while strengthening old ones.

"The Route Asia allows us to gain exclusive insight into the aviation sector in the new post-pandemic era," she said in a statement.

Currently, Sabah's international entry points are via Singapore, Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei Darussalam), Taipei, Hong Kong, Narita (Japan), Incheon (South Korea), Busan (South Korea), Manila (Philippines), and Bangkok (Thailand).

Seventy-two flights per week are run by AirAsia, Scoot,Royal Brunei, Malaysia Airlines, Jeju Air, Jin Air, Air Busan, and Cebu Pacific.

Sabah's advantageous location in the BIMP-EAGA region, combined with the coming of Nusantara, makes it imperative that the state take steps to ensure it is well prepared to meet demands, including the possibility of new markets entering.

"While Sabah Tourism is working towards encouraging flight growth, we are also tripling our efforts to make Sabah a more visible destination.

"This year alone, we have carried out promotional efforts in Europe and the Scandinavian regions.

"As a business, we understand the value of targeting tourists from all over the world, including these areas.

"We intend to develop permanent ties with travel agents so they may inform their customers about Sabah and the available direct flights if they travel to any destination that already has an established link with Sabah."

In addition to international flights, Sabah is also well connected by domestic flights from Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Kota Bharu, Labuan, Penang, and Sarawak on Malaysia Airlines, MASWings, Air Asia, Batik Air, MyAirlines, and Firefly.

Sabah recorded 1,511,163 visitors and RM2.73 billion in tourism receipts between January and November 2022.

There were 1,300,729 domestic arrivals and 210,434 overseas arrivals.

-nst online.