Tourist arrivals in Aug expected to be higher than July number, says minister

KUCHING (Sept 2): Tourist arrivals in Sarawak for August is expected to surpass the number recorded in July, in view of the just-concluded 21st Malaysia Games (Sukma XXI), says Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.

The Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Sarawak also confirms that he will receive the official figures within this week.

“These are the data given by the Immigration Department and from this, we will be able to see how many people have visited Sarawak during this period.

“They might be visiting Sarawak not just for Sukma, but when there’s a big jump, it definitely has got something to do with Sukma,” he told a press conference at his office in Baitulmakmur Building II here today.

Last month, Abdul Karim had said that the number of visitor arrivals recorded from January to July this year was 2,838,572, comprising 1,763,815 foreigners and 1,074,757 domestic visitors from Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah.

He also said that in July, Sarawak’s highest number of visitors came from Brunei at 164,141 people, followed by Indonesia with 58,407, China with 8,466, Singapore with 5,111, and the Philippines with 3,974.

On AirAsia’s historic return to Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (Subang Airport) with inaugural flights to Sarawak and Sabah, Abdul Karim said the increased number of flights would contribute towards more visitor arrivals to the state.

“When the number of flights is increased and when there are new flights coming in, there will be more people coming in.

“When more people come in, it will definitely support the tourism and hospitality industry.”

On Aug 30, AirAsia’s maiden flight AK4102 from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah arrived at Subang Airport at 9am and the Kuching-bound flight AK4235 departed the airport at 9.30am.

This return marked a significant milestone in the airline’s history, reconnecting with its origins 24 years after first launching operations from the same airport.