Mr. Manoharan Periasamy, Director General Tourism Malaysia with China Southern Airlines officers and flight CZ5049 aircrews.
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Malaysia Welcomes New Sichuan Airlines and China Southern Airlines Routes to Kuala Lumpur
The visa-free policy for Chinese travellers to Malaysia effective 1st December 2023 until 31st December 2024 has seen a significant increase in bookings to Malaysia.
The visa-free policy for Chinese travellers to Malaysia effective 1st December 2023 until 31st December 2024 has seen a significant increase in bookings to Malaysia.
SEPANG, 2 April 2024 – Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, YB Dato Sri Tiong King Sing as well as representatives from Sichuan Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) welcomed flight passengers aboard the Sichuan Airlines from Chengdu and China Southern Airlines from Shenzhen arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. A water salute by MAHB greeted the aircraft as a warm welcome for the passengers boarding Flight 3U3993 on 31st March 2024 and CZ5079 on 1st April 2024.
Both new routes from Chengdu and Shenzhen operate daily on Airbus A321 at a seating capacity of 192 and Airbus A320neo at a seating capacity of 165 respectively, marking a very important milestone in increasing tourist traffic between the two destinations.
Sichuan Airlines’ new direct flight complements the existing network of 16 weekly flights offered by other carriers from Sichuan Province. Similarly, China Southern Airlines’ route adds to the 35 weekly flights already available from Shenzhen through AirAsia and Shenzhen Airlines.
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The visa-free policy for Chinese travellers to Malaysia effective 1st December 2023 until 31st December 2024 has seen a significant increase in bookings to Malaysia. “With the visa exemption and more upcoming new flights throughout 2024, we are optimistic to hit the target of welcoming 7 million tourists from China to experience the best of Malaysia,” said Dato Sri Tiong King Sing.
Tourism Malaysia is determined to foster more smart partnerships and collaborations with international airlines to create more travel demand from China. The country remains one of the top market sources for Malaysia and contributed 211,363 arrivals to the country last year. Up to the month of May 2023, Malaysia received 403,121 Chinese tourists, compared to 21,613 (+907.2%) in the same period last year. Malaysia is currently targeting to receive 16.1 million international tourist arrivals with RM49.2 billion in tourism receipts, with 5 million arrivals targeted to be from the Chinese market.
