JOHOR BAHRU, Aug 25 ― The Johor government is committed to turning the state into a high-value regional tourism destination by 2023, as stipulated in the state Tourism Master Plan.

State Tourism, Trade and Consumerism Committee chairman, Datuk Tee Siew Kiong said this followed  the increasingly encouraging performance of Johor’s tourism sector.

“The number of tourists to this state has increased, especially for the domestic tourism market.  According to a 2016 Domestic Tourism Survey conducted by the Statistics Department, Johor was acclaimed as the state most visited by domestic tourists,” he told reporters after launching the Malaysian International Travel Mart (MITM) Travel Fair at Sutera Mall, here, today.

As such, the state government hoped to increase the number of direct flights to Johor to further boost foreign tourist arrivals, he said.

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As of June, Johor had 15 direct flights via Senai International Airport (LTAS), namely, to Bangkok, Thailand; Guangzhou, China and Jakarta as well as Surabaya, Indonesia, among others.

Tee said the latest would be the direct flight from Johor Bahru to Kolkata, India, to be launched on Nov 28, with flights five times a week. ― Bernama