KOTA KINABALU: Thursday (Jun 2) marked the arrival of the inaugural Jin Air flight to Kota Kinabalu from Incheon, with 185 passengers on board.
Jin Air branch manager Park Jeong Hoon was among them.
Sabah Tourism, Culture, and Environment Minister Datuk Jafry Ariffin commented that the full flight from Korea is a positive indicator suggesting that Koreans are anxious to visit the state.
“We are confident that with the improved Covid-19 situation, Koreans would want to come here as they did in the past. Before the pandemic, we had 65 flights weekly from Korean cities to Sabah.
“We hope this circumstance will return and we look forward to (receiving tourists from) other destinations. Sabah will work together with MOTAC to boost visitor arrivals, which in return will have a positive economic impact on the local community,” he said.
The South Korean carrier is the third foreign airline to resume direct flights to Kota Kinabalu after Singapore’s Scoot and Royal Brunei Airlines.
In congratulating Sabah on its strong tourism development, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC) Datuk Seri Dr Santhara echoed that they would continue to collaborate with the Sabah Tourism Board to promote Sabah and its new products to the Korean market.
“In 2019, we had over 600,000 Koreans visiting Malaysia with about 390,000 of them making their way to Sabah. This is an indication that Kota Kinabalu is an essential destination,” he said.
Also present at the Jin Air inaugural flight to greet the passengers at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport were State Tourism, Culture, and Environment Assistant Minister Datuk Joniston Bangkuai; Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of State Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Sr Yusrie Abdullah; Sabah Tourism Board Chief Executive Officer Noredah Othman and Chief Marketing Officer Tay Shu Lan; Acting Senior General Manager of Malaysia Airports Berhad Corporate Office Tuan Kamaruzzaman Razali; MOTAC delegates and Tourism Malaysia Sabah.
