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Malaysia charter flights to increase China and Hong Kong
Coinciding with the 2010 Chinese New Year holidays, 44 charter flights from around Asia will land in Malaysia between 24 January and 1 March 2010, with more than half of the tourists expected to originate from China and Hong Kong.

With Chinese New Year as one of the most popular travel periods in Asia, 6,477 holiday-makers are expected to visit Malaysia, with 3,590 from China and Hong Kong. There will be two charter flights to Kota Kinabalu and one to Langkawi Island from Hong Kong. The rest will be departing from Beijing, Guangzhou, Kunming and Shanghai.

“The China and Hong Kong market is one of our key markets, especially during the Lunar New Year. Over one million Chinese tourists travelled to Malaysia last year, signifying a 7.3% increase year-on-year, which placed China as one of the top five tourist generating markets for Malaysia in 2009. We look forward to once again welcoming guests from China and Hong Kong and helping them experience all the diversities that Malaysia has to offer,” said Madam Zaliha Zainuddin, Director of Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (Hong Kong Office).

Thirty of the scheduled flights will land in Kota Kinabalu, while the other Malaysia destinations taking part in this charter programme include Kuala Lumpur, Kuching, Kuantan, Johor, Penang and Langkawi Island.

Malaysia recorded 23.65 million tourist arrivals in 2009. This marked a 7.2% increase year-on-year or 22.05 million more arrivals, surpassing the target of 19 million tourist arrivals set by the government earlier last year.

During the December 2009 Christmas holidays, four charter flights from Hong Kong to Kota Kinabalu brought 576 tourists to Malaysia.