Kota Kinabalu: State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun hopes that the launching of a new Korean airline service linking the State and Korea in July would help boost Korean arrivals in the State.He said currently they have four major airlines flying in regularly from Korea, namely Asiana Airlines, Eaststarjet, Jin Air and starting July 20 another Korean airline, Jeju Air, will also be starting its flights to Kota Kinabalu with seven flights per week.
"This gives us a total of 28 flights a week between Korea and Kota Kinabalu with 703 seats sold daily. This is a good start.
"This is a good development as it will allow more Korean tourists to come to Sabah which we hope will shake up the tourism industry in Sabah."
Masidi said he was made to understand that in 2014 there were 114,240 tourist arrivals from Korea to Sabah, while last year the number of tourist arrivals from Korea to the State had increased to 138,867.
He said as such, it was his hope that the number of Korean visitors to the State this year will surpass the over 138,000 arrivals last year.
"Koreans are loyal tourists to Malaysia, Sabah due to the longstanding relations between both countries.
So it is certain the addition of another airline to the State together with the efforts of the Asean Korea Centre will ensure tourist arrivals to the State can only improve in the future."
He said this at the 2016 Asean-Korean Tourism Capacity Building Workshop at Le Meridien Hotel, Thursday, held in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Sabah office and Asean- Korea Centre, an international organisation mandated to promote economic and socio-cultural cooperation between Asean member states and Korea.
On the workshop, Masidi said the hope is that it will give exposure to new methods to local tourism stakeholders to improve the tourism industry and especially to ensure more tourists come to Malaysia, especially Sabah.
He also spoke about and emphasised the need for the element of mutual trust in the tourism industry and that both parties must respect agreements made in the past.
"This is one of the factors why Sabah in Malaysia has one of the most numbers of repeat visitors.
"Sabahans are seen as good people in the country and we need to develop and capitalise on this as we expand the industry further to a higher level.
"Koreans know Sabah very well but I think there are still Koreans who still need more information about the State.
"They are good visitors and our advantage is that there are already many Koreans who are living in Kota Kinabalu which makes them feel at home, which I think is an advantage for us."
Secretary General of the Asean Korea Centre cum former South Korean Ambassador to Indonesia, Kim Young Sun, said many Koreans were already visiting Kota Kinabalu but there is still great potential in the matter.
"You need to strengthen your efforts to make Sabah and Kota Kinabalu known to the Korean people.
So one of the ways in this regard is to strengthen your online or social media platforms so Koreans can easily access the information.
"As pointed out by Masidi, trust is an important element of tourism industry. It's a competitive industry, so it is important to seize the hearts and minds of the Korean visitors where you will have to understand their characteristics."
On whether there was any need to further promote the State in Korea, Masidi said he believed so.
"Korea is a big country, so we need to go beyond Seoul.
"Sabah Tourism has migrated more to online (promotions) and it seems to be more effective.
More travellers are coming (to Sabah) and they are relying on Internet bookings and online marketing."
The one-day 2016 Asean-Korean Tourism Capacity Building Workshop aimed to strengthen competitiveness of the tourism industry in Malaysia with a view to attract Korean tourists to the country by enhancing understanding about the distinct characteristics of Korean tourists and the tourism market to tourism stakeholders.
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