By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, June 6: Malaysia is set to extend the successful “Brunei+” tourism model to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) market, offering travellers an additional one-night free stay in either Kota Kinabalu or Kuching as part of a 7-day, 6-night package aimed at boosting tourist arrivals from the country.
Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Dato Sri Tiong King Sing said the initiative, inspired by the model pioneered by Royal Brunei Airlines, aims to attract more Middle Eastern and Indian expatriate tourists, especially the over one million Indians currently residing in the UAE.
“The success of Royal Brunei Airlines’ ‘Brunei + Kuala Lumpur or Kota Kinabalu’ travel package — which offers a free overnight stay in Brunei before passengers continue on to Malaysia — has received encouraging feedback from the market.
“We are now adapting this model for the UAE market to strengthen tourism cooperation and boost arrivals,” he said in a post shared on his social media today.
He added that following the package’s expansion to include Kuching recently, Malaysia plans to collaborate further with Royal Brunei Airlines to implement the “Brunei+” model for both the Middle Eastern and Indian markets.
Tiong also stressed that Malaysia is ramping up efforts to enhance tourism collaboration with Middle Eastern nations by prioritising the opening of new flight routes.
In 2024, Malaysia welcomed more than 211,701 visitors from the Middle East — a 20.8 per cent increase from the previous year — but Tiong believes this number still falls short of its full potential.
“Air connectivity remains the biggest challenge,” he said, noting that currently, only one Saudi Arabian city — Jeddah — offers a daily direct flight to Kuala Lumpur.
He revealed that Riyadh Air, Saudi Arabia’s second national airline, has agreed to launch a direct route between Riyadh and Kuala Lumpur and include Malaysia in its tourism catalogue. The airline received its flight permit in April and is expected to begin operations by the fourth quarter of this year.
Meanwhile, FlyDubai, which began flying to Penang last year, has been invited to launch a new route between Dubai and Melaka — another UNESCO heritage city in Malaysia — in conjunction with Arabian Travel Market 2025. However, the airline is currently facing aircraft shortages.
Tiong also noted that Saudi budget airline Flynas will not be able to launch long-haul routes to Southeast Asia until at least 2027, while Emirates has delayed its expansion plans.
In response, he said he will hold internal meetings with the Ministry of Transport to address the concerns raised by airlines and improve Malaysia’s aviation connectivity with the Middle East.
“We are committed to working closely with airline partners to ensure better regional connectivity and to unlock the full tourism potential of the Middle Eastern market,” he added. — DayakDaily
