Deputy Minister of Tourism, YB Dato Dr. James Dawos Mamit will lead a delegation comprised of travel agents, hoteliers, representatives from several tourism organisations, senior officials from the Ministry of Tourism and Tourism Malaysia on a sales mission to India and Bangladesh from 22 February to 1 March 2011 in efforts to boost tourist arrivals from both countries.

The delegation will visit Pune and New Delhi in India and Dhaka in Bangladesh.

The objectives of the sales mission are to strengthen Malaysia’s standing as a premier travel destination and increase tourist arrivals from the South Asia market. It will also provide Malaysia’s tourism industry players the opportunity to develop and strengthen co-operation with their Indian and Bangladeshi counterparts.

YB Dato Dr. James Dawos is scheduled to attend press conferences and engage in dialogue sessions with the local tourism officials, travel agents, and key tour operators. The  Deputy Minister will also be meeting the High Commissioner of Malaysia in Delhi, H.E. Dato’ Tan Seng Sung and the High Commissioner of Malaysia in Dhaka, H.E. Jamaluddin bin Sabeh.

In this sales mission, Tourism Malaysia will highlight new and innovative tourism products such as the 1Malaysia Contemporary Art Tourism Festival and the Malaysia International Shoe Festival apart from promoting Malaysia as a second home (the Malaysia My Second Home Programme) and Malaysia as a business tourism destination.

Tourism Performance

Malaysia registered 24.6 million arrivals and tourism receipts of RM56.5 billion (USD18.5 billion) last year, surpassing the government’s 2010 target of 24 million arrivals and RM54 billion in tourism revenue.
India emerged as one of Malaysia’s important source market, contributing 690,849 tourist arrivals in 2010. This represented a 17.1% increase from 2009 arrivals of 589,838, making India the market with the highest growth.
This year, the Tourism Ministry is targeting 25 million arrivals and RM60 billion in tourism receipts.

Fast Facts:

i. 20 travel agents, 21 hoteliers, 3 tourism organisations and 1 restaurant owner are part of the sales mission to India and Bangladesh.

ii. Malaysia has improved its direct air accessibility to India tremendously over the years. Presently, Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, and Jet Airways contribute a total of 102 flights with 21,906 seats per week, over nine destinations in India to Malaysia namely Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Tiruchirappali, Cochin and Trivandrum.

iii. Meanwhile, direct air accessibility to Bangladesh has recorded a total of 25 flights with 6,114 seats per week respectively contributed by Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, GMG Airlines and Biman Bangladesh Airlines.

For more information, please contact Nor Aida Ismail or South Asia/West Asia/Africa Division, Tourism Malaysia, Tel: 03-2615 8365 / 03-2615 8188; Fax: 03-2693 0207 or Email: enq-southeastasia@tourism.gov.my.

Source: http://corporate.tourism.gov.my/corporate/mediacentre.asp?page=news_desk&news_id=523&subpage=archive

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