“We are confident the flights will bring more Singapore tourists and other tourists passing through Singapore to Langkawi,” he told reporters after the first Tiger Airways flight from Singapore flew in here with 142 passengers at 1.55pm.

Tiger Airways will have one flight a day to Langkawi, on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Langkawi is its fourth destination in Malaysia, after Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur and Penang.

Othman said Tiger Airways was the fourth airline to operate flights between Singapore and Langkawi, besides Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia and Silk Air.

Meanwhile, Tourism Malaysia deputy director-general (marketing) Datuk Amiruddin Abu, who was also present to greet the Tiger Airways passengers, said more tourists from China were expected to visit Langkawi with the availability of chartered flights from Guangzhou to Langkawi for a one-year period from Aug 4.

He said China Southern Airlines would operate the chartered flights to Langkawi and was expected to bring 17,264 tourists during the one-year period.

A tour agency was offering holiday packages in Langkawi for these tourists, he added.

Source: Bernama

She said there had been a drop of 5.1 per cent in tourist arrivals from China in the country during the period from January to June this year with only 466,685 people, from 491,682 tourists in the corresponding period last year.

“Last month alone, Malaysia suffered a 20.5 per cent decrease in arrivals of Chinese tourists with only 58,351 people compared to 73,355 tourists in the same month in 2008,” she told a press conference on her recent tourism sales mission to China, here, Thursday.

Ng said the trip, between July 10 and 24, was her second mission to China during which her entourage visited Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Guangzhou, as well as held several meetings and dialogues with tourism industry players there to promote Malaysia.

“Why China again? It is because tourist arrivals from China has been affected by the H1N1, with their number having dropped badly,” she added.

Ng said the HIN1 pandemic also affected tourist arrivals from Taiwan, Japan and Korea.

“As far as H1N1 is concern, Malaysia is very safe. We have taken necessary preventive measures,” she added.

Ng also said that low cost carrier, AirAsia Bhd, had signed an agreement with the Wuhan authority to provide direct flight between Kuala Lumpur and Wuhan beginning October.

She also said that the China Southern Airlines had agreed to provide direct flights to Langkawi twice weekly effective Aug 4, adding that such a move would further boost Malaysia as a tourist destination for the people in China.

Source: Bernama