Tourism Malaysia All Set To Lure Indian Travellers For VMY 2014

03 Jun 2013

Tourism Malaysia is all set to lure Indian travellers, especially from the Northern Region, for Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2014 with various travel packages and plans, its Director Amran Abdul Rahman said.

"We have lined up a number of activities, including hard selling of travel packages. We want to sustain the momentum in Indian tourists travelling to Malaysia," he said.

Last year, Malaysia received 25 million tourists, including 691,271 from India. In 2013, Tourism Malaysia hopes to attract 780,000 Indian tourists.

Although the trend among the urban young is changing, the bulk of Indian tourists use the services of travel agents, he said.

"Our approach is two-pronged. We work with tour operators in joint promotions as well as custom-make the trips with events such as the Moto GP, Mega Sales as well as the Putrajaya Floral Parade," Amran told Bernama in an interview.

Tourism Malaysia aims to attract 28.8 million foreign visitor arrivals during VMY 2014, to be launched in September 2013, with the theme "We are the host."

For the Moto GP in October, he said, Tourism Malaysia has already started working with several motorcycle clubs in India such as the Harley-Davidson club.

"They will be like our travel ambassadors and highlight the event to their members," he said.

Besides cooperating with local tour agents and big bikers clubs, he said, Tourism Malaysia also works with other Asean countries like Thailand and Singapore in joint "Asean Together" promotions enabling travellers to explore several Asean countries in a single trip.

"We try to take advantage of accessibility. There are more flights to Singapore from Northern India, so they spend a few days in Singapore and travel to Malaysia," he said.

Asked if there should be more awareness of Malaysia in India, he said the awareness is already there.

Previously, the interest was constrained to Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka and Langkawi, but Indian travellers are now more aware of other places such as Sarawak and Sabah.

There is also huge demand not only from big cities like New Delhi but also from places like Lucknow and Ludhiana, while demand for niche areas such as bird watching and golf packages is growing, said Amran.

"Hence, the concentration now is no more creating awareness as it is already there. It is about having the right packages for the market," he said.

He said the niche travel packages will be revealed in September at the VMY launch.

Source: http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v7/bu/newsbusiness.php?id=953620