Sabtu, Julai 07, 2012

CALL FOR GOVT INTERVENTION OVER SUSPENDED DIRECT FLIGHTS

Call for govt intervention over suspended direct flights

KOTA KINABALU July 7, 2012: Matta Sabah Chapter yesterday called on the government to intervene to resume direct flight connectivity to Korea, Japan and Western Australia.

Chapter chairman KL Chan said during the opening of Matta Fair held at Suria Sabah near here that the suspension of Malaysia Airlines’ direct flights to the three countries / destinations had ill-effects on the tourist arrivals into Sabah.

Matta Sabah would like to call for the government to intervene to resume direct flight connectivity to Korea, Japan and Western Australia to benefit the community. As of April 30, Sabah recorded a drop in tourist arrivals from Japan by 29.1 per cent and Australia by 4.2 per cent compared to the corresponding period.

Our promotions and marketing efforts have been wiped off, not to mention the loss of credibility and goodwill. We expect a further drop in tourist arrivals in the coming months. Even domestic arrivals have somewhat remained stagnant or rather recorded a one per cent decrease. This is attributed to the increasing airfare between East and West Malaysia and competitive airfares to other destinations in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, India and the Maldives. For example, MAS is offering a 50 per cent rebate for travellers to these destinations ex KUL with booking periods from 18 June 2012 to 31 August 2012,?he explained.

He added that the federal government should consider awarding a license to the Sabah and Sarawak governments to operate a regional airline to alleviate the high costs of airfare between East and West Malaysia and to boost regional tourist arrivals.

At the same time, Firefly should also be encouraged to resume flights to Sabah to boosts tourist arrivals and tap the segment of tourists who wanted to pay low-cost fares and travel in comfort, he said.

10 ulasan:

  1. Hope that the direct flight issue will be resolved so that it will not affect the tourism sector in Sabah.

    BalasPadam
  2. Connectivity is important for our tourism sector, if direct flights are suspended, many tourist who are interested to visit Sabah will not be able to do so.

    BalasPadam
  3. penerbangan terus ke Sabah harus dilakukan.. ia dpt menggalakkan lebih ramai pelancong datang ke Sabah.

    BalasPadam
    Balasan
    1. Penrbangan yang konsisten dapat menarik ramai pelancong ke Sabah.

      Padam
  4. Tingkatkan kualiti penerbangan yang ada.

    BalasPadam
  5. Jika penerbangan terus ke Sabah banyak mungkin kehadiran pelancong ke Sabah juga akan terus meningkat.

    BalasPadam
  6. Bagus juga begitu bukan. Sekurangnya pelancong tidak perlu membazirkan duit transit daripada Kuala Lumpur dulu.

    BalasPadam
  7. Semoga Sabah ada syarikat penerbangan sendiri pada masa hadapan.

    BalasPadam
  8. Tourist arrivals in Sabah for the first five months this year went up 3.7 per cent in comparison to the same period last year.

    Tourist arrivals in Sabah have increased

    BalasPadam
  9. Negotiations to buy a large share of a regional airline with Sarawak could boost Sabah’s domestic tourism sector by bringing in increasing numbers of tourists.

    Sabah: Responding to tourism challenges

    BalasPadam