GEORGE TOWN – The vaccinated travel lane between Penang and Singapore has helped bring in some 5,400 passengers to the northern state since its launch on March 16 and is expected to achieve even higher numbers by the end of the year.
State Tourism and Creative Economy executive councillor Yeoh Soon Hin said that three airline companies – AirAsia, Singapore Airlines and Scoot Tigerair – have flown the passengers over the last two weeks since the launch.
“We are opening our international borders on April 1, and we believe our passenger arrivals will soar to greater heights,” he said.
He was speaking to media members and travel agents from Singapore who are on a familiarisation trip here organised by Tourism Malaysia. The meeting with Yeoh took place at Prestige Hotel here yesterday.
Also present was Tourism Malaysia’s northern region director Shahrul Aman Sabri Ahmad.
Yeoh hailed the familiarisation trip as a “warmup” for the tourism industry before the surge of tourists comes to Penang.
“Speaking about Penang’s initiative, the state has responded swiftly to the pandemic in terms of policy-making,” Yeoh said.
He said that the state had postponed the launch of its new tourism plan from 2020 to last year so as to incorporate a dedicated chapter on “Mitigating Disasters, Sustaining Future Tourism”.
“Under this chapter, we detailed ten economic recovery strategies, a few of which are closely relatable to this familiarisation trip. As an example, we detailed the need to sustain business, the self-employed and entrepreneurs.
“I see this familiarisation trip as a method to hasten our footsteps towards the aforementioned as tourist traffic is bound to increase, especially when both parties work out tailor specific travel packages and offerings,” he said.
He said Penang has been in talks with a global airline firm to launch more direct flights in the future.
Although the state cannot name the airline due to confidentiality, he hinted that it is one of the international aviation powerhouses ranked among the top 20 worldwide last year by Skytrax. – The Vibes, March 30, 2022
