Sabah offers a perfect escape for Uzbek holidaymakers during the winter.

For this, the Namangan region of Uzbekistan has signed a memorandum of understanding with a Sabah travel agency to propose for the launch of direct charter flights.

The agreement was signed between Funholiday’s Managing Director Connie Chong and Namangan Tourism and Cultural Department head Botir Nuritdinov.

In the agreement, they proposed to launch direct charter flights between Sabah and Namangan during the winter from December to February.

“During the winter, the temperatures can drop below zero Celsius, so the Uzbeks want to travel out from their country,” said Chong who was in Namangan which was part of a 10-day familiarisation tour recently following the launch of the inaugural chartered flights from Tashkent to Kuala Lumpur starting this month.

The entourage from Malaysia consisted of four travel agencies and a hotel operator.

Currently, Uzbeks only visit Langkawi as their preferred destination in Malaysia.

“But at the same time, the Uzbeks are also looking for a new destination to spend their holidays, and Sabah rainforest and humidity has been an attraction to them,” said Chong.

Among the highlights of the familiarisation trip were the visit to Tashkent, Bukhara, Khiva and Samarkand which was the crossroads of world culture as they are important sites of the ancient Silk routes, she said.

“We have also engaged in a business session to promote Sabah and Malaysia in general with 30 business tourism representatives from around Uzbekistan region,” she said.

Last month, Uzbekistan ambassador to Malaysia, Ravshan Usmanov, had expressed interest to work with Sabah tourism players to stimulate the interest of Uzbek citizens to the state.

It is time for Sabah, blessed with abundant of fresh seafood and unique landscape to be promoted to the Uzbeks, he said.

“We are a landlocked country, which is why our people love the sea,” he told Sabah Assistant Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Joniston Bangkuai during a courtesy call in Kuala Lumpur.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by THE BORNEO POST

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