TUI UK LTD and Thomson Cruise have chosen Langkawi, Malaysia as their homeport for cruising in South East Asia based on strong recommendation from Tourism Malaysia and Malaysia Airport Berhad (MAHB) during the World Travel Mart 2016 in London. Both TUI UK LTD and Thomson Cruise had agreed to offer Fly & Cruise package for 2018-2019 winter holiday programme to their customer in United Kingdom (UK). The Langkawi Cruise Terminal which belongs to Star Cruises has been chosen as the main cruise terminal. The Fly & Cruise package offered by TUI UK LTD has given the opportunity for tourists mainly from UK and tourists from neighbouring countries to come and discover the uniqueness of Langkawi and other tourist destination in South East Asia via direct flights from UK and cruise tourism at the same time, which offers the convenient and luxury of seamless travel experience.

Langkawi will have a better connectivity via Fly & Cruise package provided by TUI UK. LTD. There will be three (3) direct chartered flights departing to Langkawi from three (3) major cities in United Kingdom (UK) which are Birmingham, Gatwick and Manchester. The first flight will be arriving on 20 December 2018 at 8.55am, the second flight is on the same day at 2.45pm and the final flight is on 21 December 2018 at 11.05am. All the passengers will proceed to Marella Discovery cruise ship and will spent an overnight in Langkawi, before departing to Phuket and other destination before coming back again to Langkawi. The total passengers for Fly & Cruise packages offered by Tui are expected to increase at least 7,200 numbers of tourists to Langkawi, in the first year of this programme. The programme is expected to continue for the upcoming winter holiday in 2019-2020.

ABOUT LANGKAWI

An island surrounded with plethora of flora and fauna, Langkawi is also the region’s first Geopark, which is famous for its 550 million years old rock formations. It is a natural complement of rainforests, beaches, waterfalls, mangroves, unique wildlife and insects, such as 500 species and sub-species of butterflies and more than 226 species of birds. On top of that, the genuinely friendly people of Langkawi is the main strength and the pulse of Naturally Langkawi. In 2017, Langkawi received a total of 3.67 million tourists with average length of stay (ALOS) of 4.31 days for international tourist and 3.56 days for domestic tourists. Langkawi ranked as the 4th best island in Asia Conde Nast Traveler's Choice for 2018.

Langkawi is the northern-most island on the West coast of Peninsular Malaysia on the Andaman Sea. This jewel of the state of Kedah in Malaysia is an archipelago of 99 islands, and is recognised as the first Geopark in South East Asia by UNESCO. Langkawi has a population of about 150,000 made up predominantly of Malays with Chinese and Indian communities.

Tourism has grown to be the main economic activity of this duty free island, having surpassed the traditional livelihoods of paddy farming and fishing.

ABOUT LANGKAWI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Langkawi International Airport (LIA) has recently completed its terminal expansion. With this expansion, Langkawi will be better positioned to support Langkawi’s growth as a popular tourist destination, as well as act as a larger catalyst to its economic development. On a larger picture, it will also strengthen the country’s position as a preferred global hub.

In 2017, Langkawi registered 2.7 million passenger traffic movements with a 14.6% increase in international passengers. As at year to date November 2018, international passenger traffic movements increased by 31.5% compared to the same period in 2017. This expansion will definitely further facilitate Langkawi’s growth. LIA are already seeing more interest from foreign airlines to operate from here. Currently, there are six (6) airlines operating from LGK to four (4) domestic destinations and five (5) international destinations with combined weekly frequencies of 238.