State tourism, arts and culture, youth and sports, entrepreneur development and cooperatives committee chairman Mohd Firdaus Ahmad said 11,853 of the visitors were Malaysians and the remaining 754 were foreigners.

“There were 8,587 tourists who flew to Langkawi, while 4,020 came by ferry,” he told reporters after visiting the Kuala Kedah ferry terminal here today.

He said the tourism, arts and culture ministry had targeted 30,000 tourists to visit Langkawi this month, but the figure was unlikely to be achieved due to the strict standard operating procedures imposed on visitors.

Firdaus, however, stressed that the mandatory Covid-19 early detection test conducted on tourists was important to control the spread of the disease in Langkawi.

“Maybe now the number of tourists has dropped a little but in November and December, we expect the number to go up as the school holidays would have begun by then,” he said.

Meanwhile, state agriculture and agro-resources, transport and primary industries committee chairman Azman Nasrudin who was also present, said the number of ferry trips to Langkawi will be increased if there was a higher demand from tourists.

“Currently, there are only two ferry trips a day – from Kuala Kedah to Langkawi and back. If tourist arrivals go up, we will ask the transport ministry to allow more trips,” he said.