Tourism Malaysia in UAE on an aggressive promotion drive

YBM Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, Malaysian Minister of Tourism, and YBhg. Datuk Kamaruddin Siaraf, Director General, Tourism Malaysia, will lead the delegation at the ATM 2006, underlining the importance Malaysia is attaching to the region as a potential source of tourists.

After the ATM, the team will visit Oman and Bahrain on a sales mission.

The main purpose of the visit is to promote Malaysia as a tourist destination. Apart from generating interest in Malaysia as a wonderful travel destination for all types of visitors, the delegation will also launch the Visit Malaysia Year 2007 campaign in the region. The campaign is designed to attract all strata of visitors to Malaysia, which has a pride of place in the tourism map of the world, thanks to Malaysia's exquisite natural beauty, cultural diversity, and excellent hospitality.

"The cumulative growth patterns in visitors and receipts over the past few years has confirmed our paving of the right track towards leading the far eastern tourist strategies" said YBM Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, Malaysian Minister of Tourism,. "We have successfully overcome our growth expectations, and are set to continue that trend," he added.

The tourism industry in Malaysia has been registering impressive growth over the last few years, with the total number of tourist arrivals reaching 16.43 million in 2005, with the receipts estimated at a whopping USD 8.72 billion. The number of visitors from the Gulf region has risen phenomenally over the last few years, which explains Tourism Malaysia's enthusiasm to woo more visitors from here.

As far as this region is concerned, Malaysia registered 147,646 visitors from here during 2005, which is a 17.1 per cent increase compared to the same period the previous year. Tourist arrivals from UAE were recorded at 29,606, an increase of almost 40% from 2004.

The delegation consists of senior officers from Tourism Malaysia and state tourism boards, travel agents, hotel operators, and representatives from the Malaysian travel industry. As many as 46 hotels, 25 travel agencies and 10 tourism-related bodies/agencies will participate in the ATM 2006.

The members of the delegation will meet with representatives of various tourism boards, airlines, tour agencies, and the media in all these countries, with a view to impress upon them the rich possibilities Malaysia offers for potential visitors. The delegation will also take part in a travel mart in each country to promote Malaysia's tourism products.

The delegation will hold tourism presentations and media conferences in all the cities it plans to visit. The visit will culminate in a dinner and cultural performance to showcase the diversity of Malaysia as a true microcosm of the entire Asia, as encapsulated in the famed expression, "Malaysia Truly Asia."