KUCHING, 10 October 2022: Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) officially launched the Kuching Umrah* Gateway (KUG) initiative last week.
The initiative will provide direct flights to Saudi Arabia aviation gateways Jeddah and Medina from neighbouring Southeast Asian countries.
The KUG initiative is a collaborative effort between Sarawak Tourism Board and ATS Global Travel & Charter Sdn Bhd that will establish flights between the Middle East and Sarawak.
It will boost Sarawak’s tourism industry by opening up to new markets and positioning Kuching as a stopover point for Umrah travellers from nearby countries such as Kalimantan, Brunei and Southern Philippines, where more than 30 million Muslims live.
A Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) was signed between Sarawak Tourism Board and ATS Global Travel & Charter and witnessed by YB Dato Sri Haji Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Sarawak (MTCP), Hii Chang Kee, Permanent Secretary of MTCP and Dato’ A. Aziz Bin Ahmad, Chairman of ATS Global Travel & Charter Sdn Bhd.
“We are confident that Kuching being an Umrah Hub, will further enhance Sarawak’s tourism economy by creating more job opportunities and increasing tourist spending while benefitting the eatery outlets and retail sectors. Other sectors that would also benefit from this initiative include hotels, homestays, travel agents, airlines and other passenger transport services,” said Abdul Karim.
“With a projection of over 230,000 visitor arrivals within six years through KUG, I strongly believe that this is an urgent call for Malaysia Airports Berhad (MAB) to look into expanding KIA (Kuching International Airport) to meet the growing demand of visitors’ traffic,” he added.
ATS Global Travel & Charter Chairman Dato A. Aziz Ahmad said: “ATS is happy to support in bringing the vision of the Sarawak government to turn Kuching into an Umrah gateway hub that will attract more visitor arrivals to Sarawak. It offers the potential to showcase new tourism products.”
The special charter flight is expected to commence sometime in December, and ATS will arrange the feeder flights from Pontianak, Balikpapan, Banjarmasin, Samarinda, Ujung Padang (Makassar), Jakarta and Mindanao to support the main line operations of the Umrah flight carriers.
Visitors under the KUG initiative will also enjoy a variety of pre-and post-Umrah tour packages specially curated to cater to the interests and needs of the new passengers. The pre or post-tours will be together with the Umrah flights and will be made available via a dedicated platform on www.kug.travel.
For more information about Sarawak, log on to www.sarawaktourism.com
*Umrah is sometimes called the “lesser pilgrimage” because it is not compulsory but is still highly recommended.
(Your Stories: Sarawak Tourism Board)
