TOURISM MALAYSIA, TALKS ABOUT THE COUNTRY’S RISING POPULARITY. TRAVEL TRADE MENA: What are Tourism Malaysia’s key priorities for the current year?
TAIYAB: This year, the government is targeting 30.5 million tourist arrivals, with tourism receipts amounting to MYR103 billion (USD25.4 billion).
To achieve this goal, the government formulated the Eleventh Malaysia Plan (2016 – 2020), which was designed to attract high-yield tourists to further increase the tourism industry’s contribution to the economy.
Among the strategies proposed was to position ecotourism as a premier segment of the tourism industry, while also promoting heritage sites and cultural products as an added asset to the touristic experience.
According to the World Tourism Organization, demand for ecotourism, nature, heritage, cultural and soft adventure attractions are expected to grow rapidly over the next two decades, which explains our latest tourism promotional strategy to tap into these markets.
Our promotional strategies are also guided by the nation’s Economic Transformation Programme which emphasises on the development and promotion of tourism along the following five themes: affordable luxury, nature adventure, family fun, events, entertainment and business tourism.
TRAVEL TRADE MENA: How important is West Asia to the country’s overall tourism industry?
TAIYAB: The West Asia market is a key tourist source market for Malaysia. Every year, we receive in excess of 316,000 tourists from this region.
Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE and the GCC countries are the main source markets. In 2015, their average length of stay has increased from 8.1 to 9.7 nights while their per capita expenditure, too, has grown by 1.3 percent. […]
We have positioned Malaysia as a year-round destination for families and as a value-for-money destination. Among others, one of the main programmes that we have embarked on is the joint tactical campaigns with Etihad Airways, from September 2015 to this June.
With the success of this joint effort we have decided to extend the campaign for another year. Reasonably priced holiday packages and attractive airfares to Malaysia are being promoted as part of our joint promotions in support of our mainstream advertising campaign.
Our advertising campaigns are implemented in the forms of television commercials, printed ads in newspaper and magazines, outdoor billboards and online social media.
The television commercials and printed ads portray the various attractions activities for the families and honeymooners as our target segment.
We are also promoting our theme parks that are popular amongst the tourists such as Legoland, which is Asia’s first Legoland; Sanrio Hello Kitty Town and Kidzania.
In the pipeline, Resorts World Genting will open its doors to the much anticipated 20th Century Fox World Outdoor theme park.
The product owners have participated in the major travel exhibitions in the region such as the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai in April. This year, 77 organisations ranging from hoteliers, travel agents, tourism organisations and product owners participated in our Malaysia Pavilion.
[…] In addition we organised familiarisation visits for travel agents and media to have a personal experience in Malaysia.
Malaysia is also highlighted as one of the top Muslim-friendly destination which [allows] Muslim tourists to experience their Iftar and Sahur with a wide variety of Middle Eastern culinary treats.
As part of our promotions, we work closely with the wholesalers and tour operators to come up with attractive packages that could lure the tourists to choose Malaysia as their holiday destination.
TRAVEL TRADE MENA: What aspects make Malaysia a top destination for West Asian travellers?
TAIYAB: Arab families prefer holidays in Malaysia because of the predominantly Muslim community in the country.
The availability of Halal food, as well as religious facilities such as prayer rooms and mosques, cater to the needs of the Middle Eastern traveller.
Malaysia is also a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-lingual society.
English is widely spoken and Arabic-speaking tourist guides are available in most cities.
Due to all these factors, Malaysia, in fact, was ranked the World’s Top Muslim Friendly Destination in the Master Card – CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index in 2015.
Additionally, Malaysia is an ideal family destination which caters to the Arab tourists’ various needs for theme parks, shopping, spas and sightseeing as well as honeymoon destinations.
Another plus point Malaysia has is its excellent education system, which has attracted many Arab students to choose Malaysia as the destination for their undergraduate studies.
Malaysia is also gaining more interest in this market as a medical tourism destination that offers world-class medical treatments.
Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council, an agency under the Ministry of Health Malaysia, stated that Malaysia is now one of the most popular destinations for medical tourism in the world, as they provide high-quality medical care at very competitive prices.
A total of 853,875 medical tourists visited Malaysia in 2015. Out of that number 6,307 medical tourists came from Saudi Arabia, 1,426 from Oman and 676 from the UAE.
TRAVEL TRADE MENA: Malaysia has recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Saudi Arabia on tourism cooperation. How will this deal support the two countries’ growth in the long-term?
TAIYAB: The MoU on tourism cooperation between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia was signed by Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri bin Abdul Aziz, tourism and culture minister, Malaysia and H.R.H. Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, president, Saudi Commission For Tourism and National Heritage.
It is hoped that the cooperation will enhance efforts for culture and arts exchange which will help to boost interest for travel between the two countries.
Among the ideas raised was the exchange of museum exhibits through displaying relics related to Islamic history in the Kingdom’s Islamic Art Museum as well in the Islamic Art Museum in Kuala Lumpur.
We also hope to exhibit the history of Malaysia in Saudi museums in exchange for displaying the story of the emergence of Islam in the Kingdom as the land of successive civilizations in Malaysia’s museums.
Malaysia is also set to be the first country which the Kingdom will introduce the After Umrah Programme or Saudi Arabia – the Destination of Muslims where the Muslims are encouraged to travel around Saudi Arabia such as Riyadh and Abha after performing their Hajj/Umrah. H.R.H.
Prince Al Saud expressed his desire to have joint ventures with Malaysian travel agencies as well as tour operators and to establish several offices in Malaysia to implement the aforementioned initiative.
TRAVEL TRADE MENA: How would you evaluate the past months in terms of arrivals to Malaysia?
TAIYAB: Tourist arrivals to Malaysia rebounded by 2.8 percent in the first quarter to achieve 6.7 million tourists.
Chinese arrivals to Malaysia have recovered by recording a 35.2 percent growth.
Other major markets that posted double-digit growth are Thailand, Saudi Arabia (up 20.5 percent) and South Korea. We foresee that the positive trend will continue for the rest of the year [...].
We welcome tourists from the Middle East as our main source of arrivals. At the same time, we also see the potential of the neighbouring North African countries which are also an important region that we are looking at, as a potential generating market.
These include countries like Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.
With the budget constraints we are faced with, it is unfortunate that we are not able to undertake any promotions in these markets, however, we plan to embark on a sales mission to this part of the region in the near future.
