Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry will meet AirAsia over its decision to terminate five direct international flights to Sabah.
Minister Datuk Seri Christina Liew said AirAsia’s top management would brief her on the matter in two days.
“I want to hear from them personally. I want to know why (they’ve terminated these flights),” she told reporters after an engagement session with Sabah tourism stakeholders at a hotel here.
Liew was commenting on the termination of direct flights from Kaohsiung, Kunming, Ningbo, Wuhan and Manado.
When asked if this would derail Sabah’s target of 3.5 million tourist arrivals this year, Liew called it speculative.
“Between January and October last year, we had 410,046 tourists from China out of over two million arrivals. Our target remains at 3.5 million, and we’ll work to achieve it.
“I want to see more tourists, which is why we’re exploring new markets. If we cover all 10 Asean countries, we should hit our target.
“The Asean Tourism Exchange Forum will be held in Sabah for the first time on June 17. We aim to engage Asean tourism leaders to exchange ideas,” she said.
In October, AirAsia said it operates 11 domestic and 18 international routes from Sabah, with a target of bringing in two million passengers.
