No Direct Flights, No Problem: Sarawak’s 64% China Surge

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Walk through Kuching’s heritage shophouses or stand outside the cave mouths of Mulu these days, and the soundscape has noticeably shifted.

Between January and September this year, Sarawak welcomed 82,334 visitors from mainland China, marking a sharp 64.2% jump from the 50,131 arrivals recorded during the same nine-month stretch a year earlier.

In fact, Chinese travellers now make up more than three-quarters of all 108,816 North Asian visitors entering the state, handing local hoteliers, restaurant operators, and tour agencies a major post-pandemic windfall.

To keep those numbers climbing, the Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) took its pitch straight to northern China in late October, teaming up with Royal Brunei Airlines (RB) for business networking sessions in Beijing and Tianjin recently.

Rather than waiting around for more non-stop flights from mainland cities, Sarawak is leaning into a practical regional workaround by tapping RB’s flight network through Bandar Seri Begawan to funnel Chinese tour groups into Borneo.

Alongside three Sarawak tourism partners, STB and the Bruneian carrier spent the two-city roadshow pitching multi-leg itineraries to Chinese travel agents under a partnership agreement first signed at ITB China back in May.

As STB chief executive officer Sharzede Datu Salleh Askor noted in a statement, pairing destination marketing with ready-made airline connections aims squarely to turn Chinese curiosity into steady bookings for local operators.

No Visas, No Language Barriers, and Ancient Caves: Why Sarawak Hits the Sweet Spot

Behind the surge is a mix of practical convenience and old-school Borneo charm that hits a sweet spot for mainland travellers.

Since Malaysia and China implemented their permanent mutual visa-exemption arrangement in July 2025, Chinese citizens can fly in visa-free for up to 30 days, removing the paperwork hurdle for spontaneous holidays or multi-stop trips combining Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, and Kuching.

Once they land, the transition feels remarkably effortless.

Kuching’s status as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, paired with a local community that speaks fluent Mandarin and Chinese dialects, allows independent travellers and tour groups to navigate street food stalls and markets without a language barrier.

At the same time, Sarawak offers the kind of raw, unfiltered nature that big-city travellers from Beijing and Tianjin rarely get at home.

Tailored trade circuits built around Gunung Mulu National Park, Niah National Park, Bako’s coastal trails, and the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre give visitors direct access to ancient rainforests, massive limestone cave systems, and semi-wild orangutans without the heavy crowds of more commercialised beach resorts.

Backed by targeted digital campaigns on Chinese travel platforms like Qunar and bundled into wider Visit Malaysia 2026 packages, Sarawak has quietly turned its distance from the mainland into its biggest selling point.

The Xiaohongshu Effect: Why Sarawak Is Winning Over “Anti-Crowd” Travellers

On Xiaohongshu (RedNote)—the lifestyle and travel search engine that dictates where young, independent Chinese travellers spend their holidays—Sarawak is increasingly being framed as Malaysia’s ultimate “anti-crowd” treasure hunt.

While neighbour Sabah racks up massive search volumes for sunset beaches and island hopping, and Kuala Lumpur or Penang occasionally draw complaints on the app over heavy crowds, heat, or English-heavy transit signage, travel notes about Kuching strike a noticeably warmer chord.

Scroll through Chinese travel blogs on the platform, and a clear consensus emerges: visitors love that Sarawak feels unhurried, authentic, and deeply familiar.

Users regularly rave about spending less than RM10 on bowls of Kolo Mee and Sarawak Laksa, wandering past old Chinese clan associations and temple streets in Kuching, and chatting effortlessly in Mandarin or Hokkien with taxi drivers and hawkers.

For younger travellers chasing offbeat, cinematic photo spots rather than cookie-cutter tourist traps, seeing wild proboscis monkeys at Bako, spotting orangutans up close at Semenggoh, and catching sunsets along the Kuching Waterfront have become badge-of-honour posts—turning word-of-mouth notes on Xiaohongshu into Sarawak’s most effective organic marketing engine.

READ MORE: No Visas, No Language Barriers, and Ancient Caves: Why Sarawak Hits the Sweet Spot

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