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Johor aims for 1m China tourists this year with new flight route30 May 2016, by BERNAMA

Johor aims for 1m China tourists this year with new flight route
Johor's tourism, trade and consumerism committee chairman Datuk Tee Siew Kiong (R2) hands out souvenirs to newly arrived tourists from Guangzhou, China, who flew AirAsia's maiden flight from Guangzhou to Johor Baru at Senai airport, Kulai on May 30, 2016. — Bernama

KULAI: The Johor government is targeting one million tourist arrivals from China this year with the introduction of the Guangzhou-Johor Baru route by AirAsia.

Tourism, trade and consumerism committee chairman Datuk Tee Siew Kiong is confident Johor would receive more tourists from China and thus boost the tourism sector.

"I expect tourist arrivals from China to increase by 30% this year to more than one million people," he told reporters after welcoming passengers of the inaugural flight from Guangzhou to Johor Baru at Senai International Airport (SIA) here today.

Tee said AsiaAsia Berhad took timely action in introducing the route in line with the rising number of tourists, traders and investors from China, especially Guangzhou.

"This initiative can shorten the travelling time by three hours and facilitate arrival of people of both cities," he added.

The Guangzhou-Johor Baru flight arrived at 6.50am with 176 passengers comprising 95% Chinese nationals while the rest were Malaysians.

Tourist arrivals from China rose from 628,087 in 2014 to 797,862 people last year.

Meanwhile, Senai Airport Terminal Services Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Md Derick Basir said they set aside RM7 million for upgrading of SIA from July until the middle of December.

"The upgrading work include separating the domestic and international divisions. After renovation, gate one and two will be for international flights while gate three and four for domestic flights." — Bernama