State Transport Minister Datuk Seri Lee Kim Shin said the decision was made following approval from the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) on April 6. – Picture by Hari Anggara
KUCHING, April 8 — Flight frequency to the major destinations in Sarawak has been increased to 615 flights weekly from 576 previously, said state Transport Minister Datuk Seri Lee Kim Shin.
In a statement here today, he said the decision was made following approval from the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) on April 6.
“We trust that the increase of flight frequencies will increase the availability and choices of flights, reduce flight fares and attract more visitors to Sarawak.
“We anticipate that there will be a huge momentum in people movement in the next couple of months as people are yearning to travel and as other countries start to open their borders, as well as the transition to the endemic phase,” he said.
Lee said despite the opening of the state’s borders, passengers and travellers were reminded to comply strictly with the standard operating procedure (SOP).
“We must not rest on our laurels, especially in this transition phase in our efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the state,” he added.
Lee said before the pandemic, the number of visitors to Sarawak had increased from 3,270,655 in 2010 to 4,662,419 in 2019.
However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of visitors to the state dropped to 1,199,872 in 2020 and went down further to only 235,245 in 2021.
“We believe the figure will be better in 2022 with the opening of borders between countries,” he added. — Bernama