Backing calls by Malaysian tourism minister
KOTA KINABALU (ANN/THE STAR) – Tourism stakeholders have pressed for facilities at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport to be upgraded after seeing planeloads of travellers who arrived at close interval on Wednesday pack the airport.
These tour operators backed a call by state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew that there must be more immigration counters and toilets at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) to cope with the influx of air travellers.
“Long queues and inadequate facilities at what is known as the second busiest airport in Malaysia is a turn-off. For visitors, first impressions count,” said Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents chairman Datuk Seri Winston Liaw.
As such, he said these shortcomings would create a bad image especially for first-time visitors.
“Social media is very powerful. We don’t need the negative impression,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Liaw was referring to images of chaotic scenes being circulated which showed long lines at KKIA on Wednesday.
Based on information from KKIA cited by Liew, five airlines from South Korea carrying a total of 1,098 passengers landed at the airport at close intervals that night.
The airlines were Jin Air arriving from Incheon at 9.47pm, with 385 passengers; Jeju Air (arriving from Incheon at 9.52pm, 157 passengers); Air Busan (arriving from Busan at 10.40pm, 193 passengers); Jeju Air (arriving from Incheon at 11.25pm, 179 passengers); and T’way (arriving from Incheon at 11.49pm, 184 passengers).
In a statement yesterday, Liew said feedback given to her by the business community showed that toilets at KKIA are “glaringly inadequate” and that there is a pressing need to extend the terminal.
“Clearly, we need more immigration counters, and I think a reconfiguration of the counters is warranted to ease congestion and smoothen the clearance process,” she added.
She called on the KKIA management to start work immediately on extending existing toilets to cope with the influx of international and domestic tourists.
Liew also said she was informed by Malaysia Airports Sdn Bhd that it had allocated RM8.4mil for the upgrading of KKIA facilities during a briefing to her on July 25 about the KKIA Optimisation Plan.
Of the sum, RM1.4 million will be spent on improving public toilets at the airport by adding more cubicles.
The remaining funds will be utilised for other works such as resurfacing of the runway, and upgrading of the commercial lots as well as the public address system.
On Thursday, Sabah Tourism Federation president Tonny Chew suggested that KKIA management have a mitigation plan to avoid inconveniences for air travellers.
He said while having more immigration counters would help, it would be pointless if manpower is not available.
“That is why we should have sufficient people manning the stations to make the flow much smoother.
“I support the minister’s call for the immediate upgrade of essential facilities at the airport,” he added.
