The Sabah body-in-charge advises tourism players to make the most of the 30-day visa exemption offered to visitors from China and India.

Greater success can be attained, according to Datuk Seri Winston Liaw, head of the Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Satta), given that the state is currently one of the most popular travel destinations for Chinese tourists.

According to him, travel agencies may tailor experiences for visitors from China and "not just force them to shop." When approached, he stated, "For instance, if they book for four nights, they can be offered a fifth night's stay for free or at 50% off to get them to stay longer."

Liaw stated that more Chinese visitors have been traveling to Sabah since the announcement of the 30-day visa exemption last year. She cited a Firefly flight that carried 180 passengers and arrived at Tawau straight from Nanjing.

He claimed that before the pandemic, travel brokers would even offer zero or negative fares to lure as many customers as possible into going shopping.

However, it's becoming more common for Chinese visitors to favor non-shopping tours. We need to pay attention to this," he stated, pointing out that it was encouraging that Sabah's tour operators were now largely removing shopping from the itinerary.

"Reducing prices is challenging for tour companies because the majority of businesses are still recuperating from the pandemic's losses."

Positively speaking, he stated that Satta anticipated a 20% to 30% rise in visitor arrivals to Sabah this year.

When asked how many Indian tourists arrived here, he replied that it was still quite small. Liaw urged the government to give airlines incentives to fly to new Sabah destinations.