SEPANG, 1 April 2024 – The Director-General of Tourism Malaysia, Mr. Manoharan Periasamy as well as representatives from Sichuan Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) welcomed flight passengers aboard the Sichuan Airlines from Chengdu and China Southern Airlines from Shenzhen arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. A water salute by MAHB greeted the aircraft as a warm welcome for the passengers boarding Flight 3U3993 on 31st March 2024 and CZ5079 on 1st April 2024.

Both new routes from Chengdu and Shenzhen operate daily on Airbus A321 at a seating capacity of 192 and Airbus A320neo at a seating capacity of 165 respectively, marking a very important milestone in increasing tourist traffic between the two destinations.

Sichuan Airlines' new direct flight complements the existing network of 16 weekly flights offered by other carriers from Sichuan Province. Similarly, China Southern Airlines' route adds to the 35 weekly flights already available from Shenzhen through AirAsia and Shenzhen Airlines.

The visa-free policy for Chinese travellers to Malaysia effective 1st December 2023 until 31st December 2024 has seen a significant increase in bookings to Malaysia. “With the visa exemption and more upcoming new flights throughout 2024, we are optimistic to hit the target of welcoming 7 million tourists from China to experience the best of Malaysia,” said Dato Sri Tiong King Sing.

In 2023, Malaysia welcomed 1.47 million arrivals from China, an exponential growth of 593.4% in comparison to the same period in 2022 with 212,603 arrivals. In 2022, tourists from China ranked 6th in overall tourist arrivals into Malaysia and significantly jumped to the fourth rank in 2023.

Tourism Malaysia is determined to foster more smart partnerships and collaborations with international airlines to create more travel demand from China.

END