Tourism Malaysia is intensifying its promotional strategies towards Indian travelers through several tourism expos including the recent Outbound Travel Mart (OTM) held in Mumbai from 8th to 10th February 2024 and the upcoming South Asia Travel & Tourism Exchange (SATTE) in New Delhi, scheduled from 12th to 22nd February 2024.
In addition to its participation at OTM, Tourism Malaysia also conducted a Food and Culture promotional event in Mumbai, which took place from 5th to 11th February. Building on the success of this event, Tourism Malaysia is now orchestrating a sales mission across five main cities. The mission kicks off in Bangalore, followed by Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and concludes in New Delhi, spanning from February 12thto 22nd.
‘The mission is led by Razaidi Abdul Rahim – Director, Tourism Malaysia, Chennai, Noriah Jaafar – Director, Tourism Malaysia, Mumbai and Akmal Aziz – Deputy Director, Tourism Malaysia, New Delhi, together with 45 organizations, comprised of two (2) state tourism bodies, three (3) airlines, 14 hotel and resort operators, 19 travel agents, six (6) product owners, and the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), also an agency under Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia.’
This B2B event brings together Malaysian sellers of tourism products and services to interact with Indian counterparts to strengthen networking and cultivate business opportunities with the important market. Apart from the business matching sessions, there will be seminars and product presentations focusing on leisure and niche tourism markets such as meeting & incentives groups (MICE), weddings, golfing, and family fun activities. The sales mission is expected to gather over 500 travel agents and tour operators from the respective cities.
India is a significant priority market for Malaysia, with strong economic ties and cultural connections. India is Malaysia’s fifth largest source of tourists. Malaysia recorded 17.8 million tourist arrivals between January and November 2023 with 587,703 from India. In terms of air accessibility, 181 flights with 33,851 seats are offered weekly between India and Malaysia through Malaysia Airlines, Batik Air, Air Asia, and IndiGo.
This mission is also to promote the recently lifted entry visa to Malaysia with visa-free entry for citizens of India for stays of up to 30 days beginning 1st December 2023 until 31st December 2024. The announcement was made by the Prime Minister of Malaysia Dato’ Anwar Ibrahim. Additionally, it serves as a platform to promote Visit Malaysia 2026 through publicity coverage throughout the programme.
