New Route To Attract More Chinese Tourists, Says AirAsia CEO

LANGKAWI (Kedah, Malaysia) March 22 (Bernama) -- Malaysian low-cost carrier, AirAsia Bhd, expects its new Langkawi-Shenzen route to boost the number of tourists from China to here. Its Chief Executive Officer, Aireen Omar, said the airline's third international route from Langkawi (an island in Malaysia's northern state Kedah), would bring in more tourists from the Great Wall country based on the success of another route to China, Langkawi-Guangzhou. "When we launched the Langkawi-Guangzhou route last year, we saw a growth in the number of Chinese tourists into Langkawi of about 130 per cent on our flights. We feel that with this new route, it would bring in more tourist from China," she told reporters after the launch of the route. Malaysian Minister of Transport Liow Tiong Lai launched the route in conjunction with the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition 2017 (LIMA 2017) here Wednesday. She said China also formed AirAsia's largest tourist market to Langkawi followed by UK, Singapore and the India. Aireen said AirAsia's passenger traffic to Langkawi grew by 30 per cent last year from 2015. Apart from Shenzen and Guangzhou, AirAsia also operated the Langkawi-Singapore international flight as well as domestic flights to and from major cities of Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor Bahru. --BERNAMA