The Hindu Business Line : Tourism Malaysia plans to woo 5 lakh Indian tourists

Tourism Malaysia, buoyed by nearly 30 million tourist arrivals during 2007, has concluded a B2B interaction recently with the Indian travel and trade fraternity.

The plan is to attract some five lakh tourist arrivals from India alone during 2008, while preparing for some 22.5 million tourists overall to Malaysia this year.

Target

The Malaysian Tourism Board has set a target of two lakh Indian tourist arrivals for the approaching summer.

The plan is to further stretch the destination promotion campaign “One Golden Celebration” through a specially prepared showcase programme on the attractions of Malaysia as a tourist destination.

A 35-member trade delegation led by Mr Tuan Haji Azizan Noordin, Director, Tourism Malaysia, recently concluded a sales mission to India.

India initiatives

According to Mr Noordin, Tourism Malaysia’s new India initiatives would stress on bringing within the ambit of the travellers “a new diversified product” beyond Kuala Lumpur.

He said the three Malaysian States of Terengganu, Kelantan and Kedah, celebrating their respective Visit State Year programmes, will offer a variety of tourism options.

Destination packages offered in the Indian market, he said, would be driven by product and price to augment the yields not only from metros but also from tier-II and III cities.

Mr Noordin said the share in tourism receipts from India has surged by 30 per cent year-on-year.

Interline agreement

Meanwhile, Malaysia Airlines and Virgin Blue of Australia have formalised a new interline agreement, to provide easy connectivity for Malaysia Airlines passengers from India to over 80 cities in Australia.

Under the agreement, the airline will provide connectivity to five key Australian gateways of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, and to over 60 domestic destinations of Virgin Blue in Australia.

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