{"id":3889,"date":"2026-03-23T16:29:58","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T16:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/?p=3889"},"modified":"2026-03-23T16:32:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T16:32:58","slug":"1500-passengers-touch-down-at-kkia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/?p=3889","title":{"rendered":"1,500 passengers touch down at KKIA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">Tourism Malaysia welcomed 1,500 international and domestic passengers on the third day of Hari Raya celebrations at Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) in conjunction with Visit Malaysia (VM) 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">The travellers arrived on 21 flights from Singapore, Incheon, Kuala Lumpur, Kuching, Labuan, Lahad Datu, Tawau and Sandakan between 12pm and 4pm, said Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry (Motac) Sabah director Chong Wai Kit, who led the welcoming ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">Similar ceremonies were also held in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor, Kedah, Perak and Sarawak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" data-id=\"3885\" src=\"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa0016423289155111649681-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3885\" srcset=\"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa0016423289155111649681-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa0016423289155111649681-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa0016423289155111649681-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa0016423289155111649681-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa0016423289155111649681-820x545.jpg 820w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa0016423289155111649681-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa0016423289155111649681.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">The visitors received goodie bags from invited guests, tourism stakeholders and associations, as well as Tourism Malaysia Sabah director Haryanty Abu Bakar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">Following the Chinese New Year celebrations in February, the series of cultural events continues to showcase the diversity of Malaysia\u2019s multicultural society, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis programme aims to showcase Malaysia\u2019s hospitality and cultural heritage to visitors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" data-id=\"3886\" src=\"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa0018733163855672977457-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3886\" srcset=\"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa0018733163855672977457-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa0018733163855672977457-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa0018733163855672977457-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa0018733163855672977457-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa0018733163855672977457-820x545.jpg 820w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa0018733163855672977457-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa0018733163855672977457.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">The visitors also watched a symbolic activity involving the filling of rice and boiling of ketupat, performed by invited guests, reflecting Malaysian hospitality, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">The VM2026 mascots, Wira and Manja, made appearances to greet visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">The programme was carried out through collaboration with stakeholders, including agencies under Motac, airlines, corporate sponsors and tourism industry associations. Participating partners included Malaysia Airports Sdn Bhd, Sabah Tourism Board, Batik Air, Adabi, Spritzer and Photobook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-id=\"3887\" src=\"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa00201634776068115946829-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3887\" srcset=\"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa00201634776068115946829-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa00201634776068115946829-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa00201634776068115946829-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa00201634776068115946829-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa00201634776068115946829-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260323-wa00201634776068115946829.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">Organising festive celebrations at airports is part of Tourism Malaysia\u2019s efforts under the VM2026 campaign to enhance the arrival experience, strengthen destination branding and promote Malaysia as a culturally rich and safe destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">Tourism Malaysia continues to promote the country\u2019s tourism industry while highlighting its cultural diversity in line with the objectives of Visit Malaysia 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tourism Malaysia welcomed 1,500 international and domestic passengers on the third day of Hari Raya celebrations at Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) in conjunction with Visit Malaysia (VM) 2026. The travellers arrived on 21 flights from Singapore, Incheon, Kuala Lumpur, Kuching, Labuan, Lahad Datu, Tawau and Sandakan between 12pm and 4pm, said Tourism, Arts and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG-20260323-WA0022.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3889"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3890,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3889\/revisions\/3890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}