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New GM appointed at Le Meridien Kota Kinabalu

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Le Méridien Kota Kinabalu announced the appointment of Mr. Kanit Sangmookda as the new General Manager responsible for all areas in the Malaysian hotel including product development, financial performance, brand compliance, and guest satisfaction.

Born in Thailand, Mr. Kanit holds a master’s degree in International Business Management majoring in Management and Economics from Wollongong University in Australia. He brings with him more than 19 years of experience, working in leading international chain hotels including Marriott International, Minor Hotel Group and former Starwood Hotels and Resorts. His first taste of the hospitality industry was as a Reservation Agent in JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok. Through continuous learning and self-development, he has proven himself to be proficient and competent with his appointment as the Director of Revenue Management at Bangkok Marriott Resorts & Spa and The Westin Kuala Lumpur, as well as the Regional Director of Revenue Management for Starwood Hotels & Resorts – Southeast Asia.

Mr. Kanit is no stranger to the hospitality industry in Sabah where he served as the General Manager of Four Points by Sheraton Sandakan for almost three years. Prior to his appointment at Le Méridien Kota Kinabalu, Mr. Kanit was the General Manager for Le Méridien Jakarta where he spearheaded the renovation of the hotel rooms and their lobby lounge as well as the migration to Marriott International after the acquisition of Starwood.

Passionate, articulate and personable, Mr. Kanit is a creative leader who believes the success of an organization comes from a competent and innovative team. He drives his team to efficiently achieve their business goal by mentoring them to fulfill their full potential both professionally and personally.

Besides the dedicated contribution to the internal companies, his team and hotel owner, Mr. Kanit is also passionate in serving the tourism and hospitality industry in almost every market he presented as he believes in giving back to community and pay it forward to the next generation. Back in Thailand, he spent his weekend being part time lecturer at Hotel Management Faculty of Assumption University. During his time in Sandakan, he was part of the pioneer Executive Committee team of Sandakan Tourism Association (STAN) which established in 2015. While at the same time, he also represented Sandakan hotels as Executive Committee in Malaysia Hotels Association (MAH) – Sabah/Labuan chapter as well. When he moved to Jakarta, Indonesia; he also joined Jakarta Hotel Association as Executive Committee which he spearheaded Education and CSR sector and driven multiple activities for the organization.

As the new General Manager, Mr. Kanit looks forward to bringing new ideas and initiatives to revive the existing Le Méridien Kota Kinabalu to a new level. “With a different pair of eyes and my experiences, some things are better when seen from a new perspective,” he said.

When not on hotel grounds, Mr. Kanit is a family man who enjoys music, sports and fitness activities as well as photography.

Travel News | eTurboNews

98 weekly flights now from China to Kota Kinabalu

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KOTA KINABALU: There will now be 98 weekly flights from 10 major and secondary Chinese cities to Kota Kinabalu once the inaugural flight from Shenzhen by China Southern Airlines commences today, announced the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Sabah Christina Liew, at a press conference.

China Southern Airlines is Asia’s largest, and the world’s fourth largest carrier. The Shenzhen – Kota Kinabalu flight is Sabah’s second connection to Shenzhen. The carrier also flies direct from Guangzhou to Kota Kinabalu.

In less than three years connecting to Sabah, China Southern Airlines has increased their flights from 3 to 21 weekly which is almost one fifth of the total flights from China to the State capital.

“I wish to congratulate China Southern Airlines for upgrading their aircraft from A320 to A321 for the first 5 flights due to encouraging response during the opening sales of this route in mid-August, and reaching over 90% of the A320’s capacity.

“The decision to increase the seat capacity with a larger aircraft would bring an additional 200 passengers in the first five flights.” said Liew.

As of July this year, total arrivals to Sabah has increased +5.3% or 2.221 million compared to the same period last year. 43.3% or at least 358,000 of these arrivals are from China making it the largest market source for arrivals to Sabah.

The Minister hoped to achieve 500,000 Chinese arrivals by the end of the year.

“We appreciate the support from the Chinese Consul General HE Liang Caide for working with us closely and strengthening the Malaysia-China relations.” she added.

Up to July, Sabah Tourism has estimated that the total tourism receipts have reached RM4.81 billion or +8% more compared to the same period last year. Sabah is on track to achieve RM8 billion in revenue from tourism by the end of the year.

Malaysia Airports’ acting group Chief Executive Officer, Raja Azmi Raja Nazuddin said, “China Southern Airlines is one of our biggest partners which offers 52X weekly frequency from cities in China to KLIA, Penang, Kota Kinabalu and Langkawi. This new service from Shenzhen to Kota Kinabalu is a testament of their commitment in connecting Malaysia to the cities in China.

“I am happy to note that Kota Kinabalu International Airport has been on a positive growth this year with 2 new airlines and 11 new services introduced. Up till August this year, there has been an increase of 7% of passenger traffic compared to the same period last year. I am grateful that Malaysia Airports has a good relationship with the Sabah Tourism Board, in making Kota Kinabalu specifically, a star destination in its own right.”

Meanwhile, the Minister hoped that the increase of foreign airlines flying into Sabah can make way for more upgrading of airport facilities including those in Sandakan and Tawau.

200 more charter and extra flights to Sabah

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KOTA KINABALU: At least 200 more charter and extra flights will bring in arrivals from China, Korea and Japan this summer season until March next year, Sabah Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Christina Liew, announced today.

 

The charter flights are from Chinese second tier cities such as Zhengzhou, Wenzhou, Nanning, Tianjin, Yi Wu and Xiayang.

 

At least 76 charter flights are expected from South Korea, including one coming from Jeju Island, the first direct charter to Kota Kinabalu from the island.

 

“We have already received 152 charter flights the first half of the year or, an additional 20,000 tourists from China and Japan into Sabah.” Liew said.

 

“This is a great opportunity to spread these arrivals to the East Coast as the current number of rooms in West Coast will not be able to carry the influx. We need to be able to give the tourists attractive products and complement that with improved services in the East Coast.”

 

Currently 196 scheduled international flights from 21 international cities fly into Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) every week.

 

Last year, Sabah received a total of 215 charter flights from China, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Thailand.

 

Liew added, “As for scheduled flights, the direct flight from Bangkok to KK will begin this week (Thursday), a double daily from Shenzhen and a Macau direct to KK are expected in November. All three flights would be on AirAsia.”

 

The current total arrivals into Sabah as of June this year is 1.891 million or an increase of +5.3% compared to the same time last year.