KUCHING: Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Sarawak Chapter welcomed the China Eastern Airlines’ plan to introduce a new route from Nanjing to Kuching in June.
Its chairman John Teo said it was good news for the hotel industry and hoped the direct flight could materialise or launch earlier than June.
This would be the first direct flight between Sarawak and China after several years.
“We are far behind Kota Kinabalu, Sabah as they have 17 direct flights there – compared to Kuching which has only three international direct flights,” he said.
According to Teo, there are direct flights from Kota Kinabalu to several destinations in China, namely Hangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macau.
”We do hope that Sarawak can secure as many direct flights from these cities as well as other neighbouring countries like Taipei, Korea, Manila, Japan,” he added.
He also assured that hotels and travel agencies are ready to handle more foreign tourists into Sarawak.
”We still have another six months to get ready to ensure that we will have enough mandarin-speaking staff to handle these tourists from China,” he said.
Federal Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing has recently announced that China Eastern Airlines will introduce the Nanjing to Kuching route, starting on June 24, with three weekly flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
In addition, China Eastern Airlines will also gradually launch daily flights from Shanghai Pudong Airport to new destinations in Malaysia in the second half of this year, including daily flights to Penang starting July 24 and daily return flights to Kuching, Sarawak from mid-September.
