KUCHING: The increasing number of Chinese tourists to the state may lead to more inbound flights with routes from Hebei in China and Taipei, Taiwan in the works.
According to Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg, delegates from the state had recently made a trip to Hebei, and several tourism agencies and airlines there had shown great interest towards the Kuching route.
“The Hong Kong route had received a tremendous response and I was told that several tourist attraction areas in Kuching were recently packed with Chinese tourists,” said Abang Johari who is also Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister.
“The flight operator is in the midst of increasing the frequency of their flights and should the Hebei and Taipei routes materialise, we can expect a boost to our state’s tourist numbers,” he said.
He was speaking at the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between City One Megamall and Mydin Mohamed Holdings Berhad yesterday.
On the MoU, Abang Johari praised Mydin Mohamed Holdings Berhad’s efforts to enter the Kuching market which will see the opening of three Mydin Hypermarkets here.
“City One Megamall is a strategic location as it is located at a concentrated residential area which covers areas such as Tabuan and BDC,” he said.
“With the Kuching population at more than 800,000, and if we include Samarahan which will push it into the 1 million mark, I believe the people here will not need to go to Kuala Lumpur anymore to visit Mydin,” he added.
Also present were Mydin executive director Datuk Murad Ali Mydin and Kenbest Sdn Bhd managing director Stephen Long who represented City One Megamall.