KUCHING: 20 selected travel agents from Guangzhou and Shenzhen, China will be here to inspect tourism products from December 28 to January 1 as part of the promotion initiative for Air Asia’s Direct Kuching-Shenzhen flight. These top agents are selected from a list of more than 70 agents who turned up at the Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) and Air Asia’s business sessions held in Guangzhou and Shenzhen on December 13 and 14 respectively.
The five-day familiarisation trip will enable the agents to see and check for themselves the various Sarawak tourism product experiences and also the various hotels. They will also be given opportunities to network with local travel partners.
Five Sarawak hoteliers and eight travel agents attended the business sessions which were conducted by STB in order to propose their tour packages to the travel operators in China. Meanwhile, Sarawak trade partners who participated in the two business sessions in Guangzhou and Shenzhen have expressed their satisfaction with the outcome of the roadshow trip.
Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Datuk Lee Kim Shin, who led the roadshow delegation together with the Chairman of STB, Datuk Abdul Wahab Aziz, also expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of the trip.
“The business sessions allowed us to meet more than 70 of China’s agents and they are very enthusiastic about Sarawak as it is seen as a new destination,” said Lee. “The proposed direct flight has given a new window of opportunities for the industry and with the strong business support from these China based agents, we hope that it will usher in a new chapter for China’s tourism market with Sarawak,” he added. “STB will continue to collaborate with Air Asia to tap the travel potential in South China, especially now that we will have the direct flight and the need to sustain it,” added Lee.
The Assistant Minister also called on the industry partners to prepare for the influx of China tourists with the availability of the direct flight.
Meanwhile, the tourism promotion for the proposed direct flight was extended to Kalimantan Barat . The Indonesians are expected to transit in Kuching to catch the flight to South China. STB had earlier organised the Sarawak Travel Fair in Pontianak from November 17 to 18 and the proposed direct flight to Shenzhen was well received by Indonesians, said Acting Chief Executive Officer, Mary Wan Mering. “We are truly thankful to Air Asia for looking into our needs,” she added.
