KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will speed up tourism growth on the back of a trend popularly known as ‘slow travel’ that experts say will be a dominant force in tourism during 2020.
Commenting on travel trends and forecasts for 2020, Tourism, Arts and Culture Deputy Minister Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik told a media briefing at the weekend tourism could grow by as much as 20%,
He said ‘slow travel’ which emphasises in-depth experiences as opposed to cursory sightseeing in a destination is now trending.
Bernama the country’s national news agency quoted the minister saying: “After the rise of free, independent and solo travellers, the leading travel trend for 2020 is expected to be ‘slow travel’ with more Asian travellers yearning for slow travel, or longer getaways in 2020… they include South Koreans (31%), Hong Kong residents (29%), Taiwanese (28%), and Japanese (27% ).
He was addressing an audience at Tourism Malaysia’s media and industry appreciation dinner at Glasshouse in Seputeh on Saturday.
Data insights from global travel-tech giant Amadeus indicate that the highest growth in online searches for travel to Malaysia is from Korea, Indonesia, China, Thailand, and Singapore.
Meanwhile, the USA and the UK are high up the list in terms of search volumes. They are the fourth and fifth-largest markets, respectively, after China, Korea, and Singapore.
The Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign will be officially launched alongside the countdown celebrations on New Year’s Eve at Kuala Lumpur’s Merdeka Square on 31 December. (Souce: Bernama)
