THE Penang Global Tourism (PGT) and the largest airline in the country, AirAsia, have inked a partnership to elevate Penang as a preferred tourism destination in the region.
The Memorandum of Collaboration (MoC) signing took place at G Hotel Kelawai yesterday (Aug 16).
PGT was represented by its chief executive officer Ooi Chok Yan and AirAsia was represented by AirAsia Malaysia chief executive officer Riad Asmat during the MoC signing.
The signing ceremony was also witnessed by state Tourism and Creative Economy Committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin.
Riad said the MoC encompasses greater commercial collaboration between the airline and the tourism body to create new business opportunities, develop joint sales and marketing campaigns, strengthen flight connectivity, and boost the state’s economy through tourism.
“Penang also is set to welcome more tourists this year as AirAsia brings the region closer to the state with 184 flights weekly as a group.
“These include two new domestic routes launched recently from Kota Baru and Sibu to Penang as well as several routes, which have returned to the pre-pandemic frequency.
“As a start of the collaboration, AirAsia is currently offering value fares to Penang from RM59 all-in one-way until Aug 21, 2022, for the travel period between Aug 22, 2022, and April 18, 2023,” he said.
According to Riad, AirAsia needs a collective effort to rebuild the tourism industry and PGT has been instrumental in ensuring that Penang is tourism-ready post-pandemic.
“As the largest carrier into Penang with the market share of 50% as a group, this bodes well with our expansion plans of opening up and developing new markets to and from the state.
“We have flown over 584,000 guests into the state, including more than 87,000 international guests since the border reopening in April this year.
“This would have not been possible without the continued support from the state government, PGT and other tourism players and we thank them for their continued ongoing cooperation,” he added.
Ooi said PGT is looking forward to working closely with AirAsia through the MoC signing.
“We are pleased to forge a stronger collaboration with AirAsia to strengthen the commercial opportunities for the state tourism in line with the Penang Tourism Master Plan 2021-2030.
“Partnerships are important to accelerate the recovery of the industry and reach new market segmentations.
“Through this partnership, we will launch exciting campaigns and initiatives in the coming months across all AirAsia key markets including both domestic and international, as well as tap into the millions of AirAsia Super App users for cross-promotion activities,” he said.
Yeoh said AirAsia has been instrumental in the growth of the state’s tourism industry.
“We look forward to working closely with them in promoting Penang as a preferred tourism destination.
“I also applaud AirAsia for continuously strengthening its connectivity to and from Penang with 184 weekly flights as a group. This has resulted in about 31 per cent of overall passenger arrivals between January and July this year.
“I am also pleased to announce that the total passenger arrivals into Penang have increased 287 per cent from January to June this year.
“Based on this, we expect to see a return to pre-pandemic levels of traffic by 2023 or 2024 in Penang,” said Yeoh.
Yeoh was also pleased that AirAsia has returned several of its routes to their pre-pandemic frequency, allowing more passengers to come into Penang.
“This partnership with PGT will bring us a step closer to achieving our Penang2030 vision as we strategically position Penang on the tourism world map through a combination and integration of culture, arts and heritage.
“Tourism sector is one of the key pillars of Penang2030 vision, but what is more important is how the industry creates job opportunities and supports the economy for the people.
“And more flight connectivity is also equal to more job creation across the value chain,” added Yeoh.
Story by Riadz Akmal
Pix by Siti Nuratikah Rahmat