CNY marks highest arrivals of China tourists – Pang
KOTA KINABALU: The number of Chinese tourist arrivals in Sabah in the first two months this year increased by 52 per cent to 113,296 compared to the corresponding period last year.
Tourism, Culture and Environment Assistant Minister, Datuk Pang Yuk Ming said that the Chinese New Year week in February also recorded the highest Chinese tourist arrival in a week at 67,000.
“This is in line with our target of receiving between 550,000 and 600,000 visitors from China this year,” he told reporters when met at the ‘Passion of Minnan Culture on Maritime Silk Road’ cultural show at the Culture and Arts Department Complex here yesterday.
The event was organised by the Xiamen Municipal Tourism Development Commission who were on a cultural tour on a cruise ship along the Maritime Silk Road in South East Asia.
According to Pang, he had requested the Xiamen Municipal Tourism Development Commission Deputy Director General, Zhong Hai Lin who was present, to consider re-launching direct air link between Xiamen and Fujian with Kota Kinabalu, to be serviced by Xiamen Airlines.
He said that the airline is currently servicing Fuzhou – Kota Kinabalu route and Beijing – Kota Kinabalu route. “Xiamen is a tourism hub of China which received some 78 million tourists, mostly domestic visitors last year. So if we can link these two cities, we can tap to the vast tourism market and promote Sabah to the rest of China.
“Now visitors come to Sabah through Fuzhou but Xiamen is a better known city and it is close to Taiwan.
“Malaysia Airlines used to fly to Xiamen from Kota Kinabalu but it stopped in 2004. Things are different now,” he added.
Pang also hoped that the Xiamen Municipal Tourism Development Commission cruise ship, Neo Costa Romantica, would call on Kota Kinabalu in its scheduled service.
He said although visitors arriving on cruise ships are not counted as tourists because they stay on the ship instead of in a hotel, they also contribute greatly in terms of tourism receipt.
“With passengers’ capacity of 1,800 and crew of 1,200, the Neo Costa Romantica would benefit the city,” he said.
Source: New Sabah Times
