Tourism Malaysia in talks for more direct flights from China’s smaller regions

SEPANG (Jan 10): Tourism Malaysia is currently in discussions with several airlines to establish direct flights connecting smaller provinces or ‘second-tier cities’ in China and Malaysia.

Tourism Malaysia director-general Datuk Dr Ammar Abd Ghapar said such direct flights would facilitate travellers from smaller regions in China to visit Malaysia without the need for domestic flights to major airports, thereby saving travel time.

“We want to have direct flights from smaller regions but with a high population, provided by other airlines in addition to existing ones, such as AirAsia, from cities like Chengdu,” he told reporters after welcoming Air Macau’s inaugural flight to Malaysia from Macau to Kuala Lumpur here today.

Ammar also said foreign tourist arrivals in Malaysia this year are set to reach at least 24 million.

Following this, he said various plans to enhance and develop tourism products are being implemented within the country, including increasing direct international flights.

“And it has been our effort to have new routes and more frequencies, and charter flights are one of them.

“Not only Kuala Lumpur as a gateway but other airports, which can be Johor, Penang, Kota Kinabalu (Sabah) and Sarawak,” he said. – Bernama