TOURISM MALAYSIA UNVEILS SOME OF LATEST TOURISM ATTRACTIONS AT THE ARABIAN TRAVEL MARKET 2017

The Minister of Tourism and Culture Malaysia Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz officially launched the Malaysia Pavilion today at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2017 in Dubai. This year, a total of 142 Malaysian sellers from 71 organisations joined Tourism Malaysia to participate in ATM. The Malaysian delegation is comprised of a good mix of hotels and resorts, travel agents, tourism product owners, and representatives from state tourism boards. During the 4-day event, they will be highlighting their respective tourism products and services that cater specially for the Middle Eastern market.

Tourism Malaysia returns to ATM with the country’s tourism trade players to promote some of the country’s latest attractions and destinations for shopping, family fun, eco, adventure, honeymoon, and luxury holidays. This ATM marks the 24th year of Malaysian participation since the event started in 1994.

“We will continue to place strong emphasis and focus on this market as it is a huge market, not only in terms of outbound tourism, but also trade and investment. Hence, we will be stepping up our promotional efforts here”, said the Minister of Tourism and Culture Malaysia during the launch.

During the launching event, the Islamic Tourism Centre (ITC) also launched an online travel portal today called “Salam Standard Premium”. This collaboration with Tripfez Travel is a hospitality rating system for Muslim-friendly amenities and services to increase the overall experience of Muslim travellers. In addition, Dnata government & corporate travel also launched some travel packages to Malaysia. “Other initiatives include the launching of a Muslim travel guide to Penang by Halal Penang and a Malaysia brochure by Explore the Wonders. Besides that, Media Hub International will be also be launching the Malaysia Travel Guide,” said the Minister of Tourism and Culture Malaysia.

In a press conference after launching the Malaysia Pavilion, Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri said: “We are proud to unveil some of our latest attractions and we will continue to promote our flagship tourism products that West Asian travellers love, such as luxury escapades, shopping, fun-filled holidays with the whole family, honeymoon, and eco-adventure tours.”

 “I would like to take this opportunity to raise awareness on Visit ASEAN Year 2017 and the Visit ASEAN@50 campaign, which was launched to promote the objectives of commemorating the 50th anniversary of ASEAN, and embracing the ASEAN region as a single and united tourism destination”, Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri said at the press conference.

New tourism products and attractions are constantly being introduced in Malaysia to diversify the country’s attractions and give tourists more choices. As a shopping haven, our annual 1Malaysia Super Sale ended last month. However, we still have two other annual sale campaigns for this year – the 1Malaysia Mega Sale (from 15 June to 31 August) and the 1Malaysia Year-End Sale (from 1 November to 31 December). Many outlet malls have opened its doors in Malaysia in recent years. Also The highly anticipated Twentieth Century Fox World Genting is scheduled to open by the end of this year in Genting Highlands. This is the first 20th Century Fox World Theme Park in the world and the first in Asia.

Malaysia is proud to be associated with ATM as it is the region’s leading travel trade event, dedicated to unlocking business potential in the Middle East. With its growing number of tourist destinations, ATM will showcase a diverse range of accommodation options, tourist attractions and new airline routes.

Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri is scheduled to meet up with the top management of a few Middle Eastern airlines such as Qatar Airways, Emirates, and Etihad Airways to discuss future collaborations, besides having several interviews with the local media.

On 25 April, Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri will be hosting a gala dinner at Grand Hyatt Dubai to thank the tourism fraternity in Dubai and the local media for their support and assistance in promoting Malaysia.

Malaysia’s tourism industry has recovered fast in 2016 from the decline in number of arrivals in the previous year, as the number of tourist arrivals to Malaysia in 2016 increased by 4.0% in comparison to the same period in 2015, Malaysia received 26.8 million tourists in 2016 as opposed to 25.7 million tourists in 2015, and the target for this year 2017 is 31.8 million arrivals, to increase until reaching the set goal for the year 2020 of 36 million tourist arrivals, generating 168 billion Malaysian Ringgits.

­