Malaysia To Schedule Direct Flights From Vientiane to Kuala Lumpur

Source: Vientiane Times

Direct flights will run from Vientiane to Kuala Lumpur starting on August 4 this year, with three flights a week on Mondays, Fridays and Sundays.

This was the good news from the Deputy Director of Tourism Malaysia’s International Promotion Division for Southeast Asia, Ms Zalina Ahmad.

Ms Ahmad was speaking at the Malaysia Tourism Roadshow in Vientiane on Wednesday, which she co-chaired with the Malaysian Ambassador to Laos, Mr Edi Irwan Mahmud.

She added that since the re-opening of the Malaysian border on April 1 last year, from January until December 2022 some 7,010 Lao nationals travelled to Malaysia as tourists.

“As of now, we do understand that Laos doesn’t have direct flights to Malaysia, but I believe that it is not impossible. You can still travel to Malaysia by taking Scoot Air from Vientiane to Singapore then cross the border to Malaysia through Johor Bahru, or take AirAsia and Thai Airways, transit in Bangkok, and then fly to Kuala Lumpur,” Ms Ahmad said.

This year, Malaysia has set a target of 16.1 million international tourist arrivals generating RM 49.2 billion in tourism revenue. To achieve this target, Tourism Malaysia plans to work closely with Lao tourism operators.

Mr Edi Irwan Mahmud said “The delegation from Malaysia is eager to meet all of you here today. We have with us nine Malaysian tourism industry players consisting of hotel managers and inbound tour operators and product owners who will join you for the talk and the B2B sessions, with five taking place physically and four virtually.”

“We hope that this platform will be fully utilised to get to know our tourism products, to put questions to our Malaysian industry players, and to look for possible ways to work together and create attractive packages for your clients so that Malaysia can welcome more Lao tourists to our shores.”

“Our partnership has helped to position Malaysia as one of the favourite destinations for Lao nationals. With the reopening of international borders, the number of tourists from Laos who arrived in Malaysia for the period from last year 2022 increased by 1,549.41 percent (7,010 visitors) compared with the same period in 2021, with just 425 visitors.”

Over the course of this year, many great events have been lined up to showcase Malaysia’s diverse culture and traditions.

Some of these events are LIMA 23, the Rainforest World Music Festival in Sarawak in June, the George Town Festival in July, the Kuala Lumpur Fabulous Food Hunt, the Melaka River International Festival at the end of the year, and Open House celebrations of the different races in Malaysia.

If you are looking for more details, you may want to visit www.malaysia.travel.