KUCHING: Opening more routes to Sarawak will provide more convenient accessibility for visitors from other countries.
Federation of Chinese Associations of Sarawak president Datuk Richard Wee felt that more arrivals from different destinations will improve the current inefficient connectivity to the state.
He was reacting to Tourism, Creative Industry, and Performing Arts Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah’s call for more routes between Indonesia (Bali, Medan and Surabaya) and Sarawak
“I would echo Abdul Karim’s call as there is strong enough demand to warrant other airlines to consider routes from different parts of the Asean region.
“Plus it will provide the necessary impetus to our economy such as hotel industry, food and beverages (F&B), tourism, transportation and other related industries as well,” he said.
He also looked forward to the government formulating policies to have a more open sky policy.
“Whereby we can allow more airlines to provide better connectivity while at the same time having some measures to provide our local airlines added advantages over its competitors,” he added.
In the meantime, president of Orang Ulu Chamber of Commerce and Industry Datuk Mutang Tagal felt that it would be a good for tourism in Sarawak as Indonesia has over 275 million people.
“If we can get a fraction of Indonesians coming to Sarawak, our tourism will benefit handsomely.
“However, Sarawak must ensure passenger load on these flights is sufficient on all the new routes from Kuching to Jakarta, Surabaya, Bali and Medan.
“The state should also encourage and provide incentives in terms of subsidies, rebates on tickets, hotels, transport to Sarawakians who travel to these Indonesian destinations to ensure sufficient passenger loads for these airlines,” he added.
He also stressed that the new routes must be sustainable to ensure an influx of tourists in the long run, domestically, regionally and internationally.
Earlier, it was reported that the state government has concluded several discussions with various Indonesian airlines, aiming to facilitate the introduction of additional direct flights between Indonesia and Sarawak.
In his recent visit to Indonesia, Abdul Karim said he had engaged with two airlines from Indonesia.
“The Sarawak government welcomes any airlines that want to add or open new routes from Jakarta, Surabaya, Bali and Medan to here.
“(On behalf of the Sarawak government), we also hope that Malaysia Airlines will offer the same routes,” he said.
