KUCHING will play host to route development forum Routes Asia 2014 next week, two months after it hosted the ASEAN Tourism Forum (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 6, 2014).
Asia’s largest route development forum will run from March 9 to 11 and will be launched by Sarawak’s minister for tourism, Abang Abdul Rahman Zohari Abang Openg.
Abang Zohari said: “I am happy to launch Routes Asia 2014 and to host members of the regional aviation industry in Kuching. I hope this will be a start of bigger things to come for Sarawak’s tourism industry.
“The tourism landscape is changing rapidly. China is now the number one tourism market in the world with the number of Chinese tourists travelling outside the country hitting 97 million in 2013 (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 10, 2014). We want to increase the number of Chinese tourists coming into Sarawak from the 30,000 that we are currently getting now and hopefully events like Routes Asia will make that happen.”
The three-day forum will attract a number of airlines from China including China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and Air China.
A total of 146 delegates representing 100 airlines and 233 delegates representing 173 airports have confirmed their attendance at this event, hosted by the state government of Sarawak and co-hosted by Malaysia Airports Holdings.
