Sabah tourism breaks records

KOTA KINABALU Sabah’s report card for tourist arrivals in 2016 showed an overall 7.9% increase compared to 2015.

The East Malaysia state attracted 3.427 million visitors, surpassing the ‘best year in tourism’ achieved in 2013 (3.383 million).

This is an estimated RM7.25 billion generated in tourism receipts, or an extra 10% contribution to the state economy, according to Sabah Tourism.

The top three market sources recorded double-digit growth, led by China with an increase of 51.8% (374,939).

This was followed by South Korea +42.5% (197,945) and Taiwan +35.0% (55,442). Other arrivals with positive growth were Australia (up 8.7% or 30,139), Brunei (+8.2% or 91,923) and UK & Ireland (+7% or 35,901).

Visitors from China made up a third (33.2%) of the overall market share in 2016, a growth compared to previous year, 2015, which had a market share of 25.2%. Korea had the second largest market share (17.9%), followed by Brunei (8.1%), Taiwan (4.9%), and UK and Ireland (3.2%).

There was a record 210 charter flights carrying 25,627 passengers from China, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. This was a three­fold increase compared to 2015, of only 76 charter flights.

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