Wednesday, February 20, 2019
The tourism of Sabah in 2018 has set a new record with the highest tourism
receipts ever at RM8.342bil on the back of a record-high 3.879 million arrivals.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew stated that figures from January to December showed overall arrivals grew by 5.3% as tourism receipts increased by 6.6% compared with 2017 (RM7.83 billion).
The gross international arrivals recorded a double-digit growth of 10.2%, in
general, while domestic arrivals increased by 2.8%, said Liew, quoting statistics
assembled by the Sabah Tourism Board (STB) under her Tourism, Culture and
Environment Ministry.
Liew stated that the top market source was China, which exceeded the half
million mark in terms of tourist arrivals with a total of 593,623 Chinese tourists
visiting Sabah in 2018.
Direct flights from China to Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA), totaled up
to 125 flights per week, as of December 2018, she said.
The second highest arrivals were still South Korea with a growth of 8.5% or a total
of 337,100 visitors, as the Singapore market grew by 9.1%, she added.
“I'm very pleased with our performance in 2018. It was a very good year for
Sabah. As of today, we are now connected to 26 international destinations by 12
foreign carriers," said Liew.
Tags: Sabah tourism
