KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents (SATTA) urges all airlines to lower their fares temporarily for two to three months in order to stimulate the tourism industry following Malaysia Airlines (MAS) missing flight MH370.
SATTA chairman Dato’ Seri Winston Liaw believes that this short-term strategy will achieve mutual benefits for both parties without affecting the airlines in the long run.
Speaking at SATTA’s 20th anniversary dinner here on Thursday, Liaw said the travel and tourism industry was the most challenging industry, as well as the most fragile. However, Liaw said industry players should not be discouraged by negative incidents.
He pointed out that the industry still fared well and tourist arrivals to Sabah still increased a substantial percentage despite a few incidents last year, including the Lahad Datu intrusion.
“Thanks to the effort of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment, and Sabah Tourism Board (STB), we look positively to our targeted goal.”
Liaw said this year was Visit Malaysia Year and that the missing MH370 had affected the industry slightly.
On Wednesday, tourism industry players had a meeting with the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun, Assistant Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Pang Yuk Ming and STB officials where they discussed the impact of the missing jet on the industry.
Liaw said industry players should take action before they were impacted by the incident.
“Masidi has said that before anything happens, we should take precautionary steps to prevent any negative impacts on the tourism industry.”
Seeing the presence of airlines’ representatives at the event, Liaw took the opportunity to urge the airlines to help the industry by lowering their fares for two to three months.
He said airlines could also do promotions like SATTA or Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) fairs to attract people to visit Sabah.
Liaw believes that this measure will achieve mutual benefit for both parties and would not affect the airlines in the long run.
Liaw is also confident that the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment and STB will achieve the target of over three million tourist arrivals this year.
