KOTA KINABALU: For Johorean Megat Zulfadli Buang, Sabah has always been a travel destination that he wants to visit regularly.
"Sabah has much to offer from seafood to feast, rivers with abundance of fish and lush greenery of Kundasang.
"If tour operators are offering cheaper packages, that will be an additional pull factor to visit the state," said the 31-year-old father of two, who married a Sabahan.
Starting Nov 1, Sabah will allow visitors to the state provided that they are vaccinated and healthy.
However, Megat expressed concern over the vaccination rate in Sabah in which only 70 per cent of adult population had completed their dosage.
As such, Megat said he would be postponing his travel plans until Sabah achieved the targeted 90 per cent vaccination rate.
Sabah Tourist Association chairman Tonny Chew said to regain the confidence of tourists to travel, industry players would have to ensure the health and safety of travellers.
"We have to ensure the health and safety of the tourists are being well taken care of by strictly abiding by the stipulated Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), having fully vaccinated frontliners and doing scheduled sanitisation.
"Secondly, there should be Covid-19 insurances to cover risks and consequences of losses," he said, adding that the insurance policy would be from travellers and tour operators.
Chew said as state borders were opening, tour operators should offer special promotions to attract more tourists.
From Nov 1 onwards, AirAsia Group Bhd will have 14 routes to Sabah with 296 flights weekly. The fare will be from RM129 onwards.
In 2019, Sabah recorded more than 2.7 million domestic arrivals but the Covid-19 pandemic saw the numbers plunged to just 700,000 domestic arrivals between January to September 2020.