Kota Kinabalu: Koreans topped the number of international arrivals to Sabah between January and April this year, compared with the corresponding period last year, and more are expected to come in the next few months.
Disclosing statistics from the Sabah Tourism Board’s (STB) Research Division, State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew said STB recorded 68,685 Korean travellers to Sabah versus 720 in the same period in 2022.
“This is a huge increase of 9439.6pc. Presently, there are seven Jin Air weekly flights from Incheon to Kota Kinabalu, and this will be increased from next month.
Basically, it is bilateral tourism cooperation,” she said, after a courtesy call by a delegation from Jin Air and Seoul Travel Industry Cooperative, who were on a tour of Pom Pom Island (a small coral reef island about 30km north-east of Semporna) and Timba Timba island near Semporna.
SPONSORED CONTENT Tune Talk launches Borneo25 plan catering to Sabah and Sarawak Kuala Lumpur: Tune Talk is excited to announce the launch of Borneo25 Plan, a mobile prepaid plan exclusively designed for subscribers across Sabah and Sarawak. Read more The tour was coordinated by former Sabah Tourism Board (STB) Chairman Ken Pan.
Briefing the Minister on plans to increase the number of Jin Air weekly flights from Incheon to Kota Kinabalu, the airline’s Kota Kinabalu Airport Office Station Manager JeongHoon Park said:
“Beginning June 29 up to the first week of September, there will be two flights per day (totalling 14 per week). At the same time, we plan to upgrade the existing Jin Air aircraft plying the Incheon-KK route from B737-800 (with a capacity of 189 seats) to B777-200 (393 seats).”
Seoul Travel Industry Cooperative’s Chief Director Park Ji Youn briefed the Minister on Jin Air’s future plans to improve air connectivity between South Korea and Sabah.
Sharing his travel experiences in Tawau, Jin Air Corporate Strategy Development Team Manager Kyein Park said he found the golf courses there very challenging.
He, however, expressed concern over the travel advisory restricting visits to the east coast of Sabah.
In response, Liew said the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Malaysia was in Sabah recently to assess the security situation.
“He would be making a report of his findings to the Government of Berlin, which will decide on whether to lift the travel advisory.”
Also present was the STB Deputy Chief Executive Officer Tay Shu Lan.
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