Chief minister Hajiji Noor said the state felt that the RM160 price for the test imposed on travellers to the peninsula was too high.

“This price is most appropriate to ease the burden on tourists coming in,” he told reporters after launching an event organised by the Travel Safe Alliance Malaysia here today.

“We want our tourism industry to recover and grow after being severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic for the past two years.”

The chief minister was responding to the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) president Tan Kok Liang’s appeal to the authorities for the cost of the tests imposed on international arrivals to be reduced.

Hajiji said the price would be applicable to foreign and Malaysian guests coming to Sabah by flight.

“Sabah used to receive over four million tourists a year before the pandemic, so we want it to go back to that number or more,” Hajiji said.

Travellers coming to Sabah must undergo an RTK-Ag test prior to immigration clearance at the point of entry.

All travellers are also required to upload the results of an RT-PCR Covid-19 test done two days before their departure.

Earlier in his speech, Hajiji said the state government through the Sabah Tourism Board was aggressively pursuing the resumption of more than 200 direct international flights into Sabah as the country opens its international borders from tomorrow.

Before the pandemic, he said the Kota Kinabalu International Airport managed 236 direct international flights from 22 cities.