KOTA KINABALU: The decision by the Federal Government to give 30-day visa-free entry to nationals from China and India beginning Dec 1, augurs well with Sabah’s target of 2.2 million arrivals this year.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, in welcoming Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s announcement, said so far Sabah has already achieved 85.6% of the target.
“I have mentioned that now that normalcy has returned to the tourism industry, the state government has launched a tourism recovery campaign to attract tourists back to Sabah.
“To date, Sabah is connected to eight major cities in China – Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Macau and Hong Kong – with 63 weekly flights and a seating capacity of 11,360,” he said.
Based on records from January to September this year, the number of arrivals from China stood at 45,801 compared to only 4,162 arrivals for the same…