KOTA KINABALU: Koreans topped the number of international tourist arrivals to Sabah between January and April this year.
Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew said statistics from the Sabah Tourism Board (STB) showed there were 68,685 Korean arrivals during the period this year compared with 720 from January to April in 2022.
"This registers a huge increase of 9,439.6%. Presently, there are seven Jin Air weekly flights from Incheon to Kota Kinabalu, and this will be increased," she said, adding that the move would bring in more visitors.
"It is bilateral tourism cooperation," she said after a courtesy call by a delegation from Jin Air and Seoul Travel Industry Cooperative, who were on a tour of Pom Pom Island (a small coral reef island about 30km northeast of Semporna) and Timba Timba Island, located near Semporna.
The tour was coordinated by former STB chairman Ken Pan.
Briefing the minister on plans to increase the number of Jin Air weekly flights from Incheon to Kota Kinabalu, the airline's Kota Kinabalu Airport office station manager Jeong Hoon-park said there will be two flights per day (totalling 14 flights per week) beginning June 29, up to the first week of September this year.
"At the same time, we plan to upgrade the existing Jin Air aircraft flying the Incheon-KK route from B737-800 (with a capacity of 189 seats) to B777-200 (with a capacity of 393 seats," he said.
Seoul Travel Industry Cooperative chief director Park Ji-youn also briefed the minister on Jin Air's future plans to improve air connectivity between South Korea and Sabah as well.
