KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government is looking forward to opening the state to tourists, particularly from China.
Its deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew was responding to China's announcement that it was considering opening its borders to certain "green" countries for inbound and outbound tourism.
"The good news is that the 'green' countries include Malaysia.
"Once the Chinese travellers are allowed to come to Malaysia, it goes without saying that they can come to Sabah," she said in a statement.
Liew, who is also state Tourism, Culture and Environment minister, said that the Consul-General China in Kota Kinabalu Liang Caide had also informed her that China will resume the Hangzhou-Kuala Lumpur air route soon.
China is planning to reopen the Hangzhou International Airport and has identified six routes that include Hangzhou to Kuala Lumpur by AirAsia X.
During a recent meeting, Liang had also tried to map out the provinces in China that they might like to explore for the Chinese to visit Sabah as tourists.
"After four months of business closure, we have a positive outlook on the outcome in the months to come.
"We are confident that the situation will gradually improve and it will be 'business as usual' by the end of the year or early next year," Liew said, adding that they will sort out a government-to-government (G2G) agreement to issue Malaysian visas to Chinese travellers.
The Malaysian Embassy and Malaysia Consulate in China have stopped issuing tourist visas to Chinese citizens intending to visit Malaysia, in view of the Covid-19 pandemic and imposition of the Movement Control Order (MCO) in the country.
China's Five-One policy is still in place, which allows each domestic airline to fly only once a week to any country (one international flight per week), while foreign airlines can fly into China no more than once a week.
For now, it is understood that flights between Malaysia and China are confined to ferrying Chinese nationals back to their country, while only a limited number of Chinese nationals with valid passes fly from China to Kuala Lumpur.
Meanwhile, Liew said she would invite Liang to join in her forthcoming visit to some tourist sites within Sabah such as the Danum Valley Conservation Area in Lahad Datu.
"In this way, Liang will be able to assist in promoting Sabah which may be lesser known to certain provinces in China," she added.