Poor air links, slowdown hit tourism

Adventure begins: A tourist having a garland made of beeds placed on him by a man dressed in traditional costume. Some 150 tourist and crew arrived onboard the MS ORION II cruise ship in Kuching yesterday.

KUCHING: Foreign arrivals to Sarawak fell short of expectations last year, recording a 7% drop from 2014, no thanks to poor air connectivity.

State Tourism Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg had hoped for 5 million arrivals in 2015. However, only 4.51 million visitations were recorded. In 2014, there were 4.85 million foreign arrivals.