BENGALURU, India, 15 February 2024: Tourism Malaysia is intensifying its promotional strategies to reach Indian travellers through several tourism trade shows and expos, such as the South Asia Travel & Tourism Exchange (SATTE) in New Delhi, which will convene from 22 to 24 February.
The latest round of promotions follows attendance at the recent Outbound Travel Mart (OTM) held in Mumbai from 8 to 10 February 2024.
Before attending SATTE on 22 February, Tourism Malaysia hosted a Food and Culture promotional event in Mumbai from 5 to 11 February, while the Tourism Malaysia team attended the OTM in Mumbai. Building on the success of that event, Tourism Malaysia is now orchestrating a sales mission across five main cities in India — Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad, culminating in New Delhi on 22 February on the eve of the SATTE travel show’s grand opening.
The mission leaders are Razaidi Abdul Rahim, director of Tourism Malaysia Chennai; Noriah Jaafar, director of Tourism Malaysia, Mumbai; and Akmal Aziz, deputy director of Tourism Malaysia, New Delhi. Joining the mission are 45 organisations. They comprise two state tourism bodies, three airlines, 14 hotel and resort operators, 19 travel agents, six product owners, the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) and an agency under the 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. Besides the business matching sessions at SATTE, Tourism Malaysia will lead 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 should reach 500 travel agents and tour operators in 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. Regarding air accessibility, 181 flights with 33,851 seats are offered weekly between India and Malaysia through Malaysia Airlines, Batik Air, AirAsia, and IndiGo.
This mission also promotes the recent waiver of the entry visa for Indians visiting Malaysia for stays of up to 30 days. The concession began on 1 December 2023 and is until 31 December 2024.
