SABAH RECEIVED 1.19 MILLION VISITORS IN FIRST NINE MONTHS OF 2022 - JAFRY

KOTA KINABALU, Nov 12 (Bernama) -- Sabah has achieved 1.19 million visitor arrivals for the first nine months of this year (Jan to Sept), said Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Jafry Ariffin.

He said that the figure shows around 92 percent of the 1.3 million target set for this year, and based on the current trend, Sabah is on the right track to achieve the set target.

"For the record, January until September 2022, Sabah registered an estimated tourism revenue of RM2.11 billion, which is more compared to last year from January to December which stood at RM597 million.

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"Domestic arrivals registered an increase of 680 percent with 1,046,656 arrivals from January to September 2021 (134,191). International Arrivals, registered an increase of 6,441.9 percent with 143,857 arrivals from January to september 2022 (2,199)," he said in a statement here today.

He said domestic, Singapore and European markets such as the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands are showing a strong rebound that will continue to lead the recovery trend.

"For total arrivals from January to September 2022 , we have reached 38.2 percent of the 2019 figure of 3,111,884 visitors. I am optimistic that with the continuous efforts, slowly but surely, we will be able to reach the number of tourists as before the pandemic," he added.

Meanwhile, Jafry said international flights currently record 47 flights a week from Singapore, Brunei, South Korea, the Philippines and Thailand.  For domestic flights there are currently 119 flights per week.

"I am happy to announce that there are upcoming international flights starting next month to January 2023, from Taipei, Narita (Japan), Busan (South Korea) and Hong Kong," he said.

Jafry believes the increase of international flights will boost the tourism sector in this state.

-- BERNAMA