Malaysia organizes workshops in ASEAN countries for its Visit Malaysia Year 2014

PUTRAJAYA - In line with its effort to boost awareness of the celebration of Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2014, Tourism Malaysia is touring Southeast Asia this October with special workshops to highlight the events linked to its VMY 2014 as well as presenting its new products to the travel trade. The travel trade programme took place last week in Manila and is moving this week on October 7 and 9 to first Yangon in Myanmar and then to Bangkok, Thailand.

The special programme comprises a travel mart, seminar and networking dinner.The travel mart has been set as a platform for invited travel trade members in Manila,  Yangon and Bangkok to network with Malaysian delegates, in an effort to encourage greater cooperation and formation of more tourism products and tour packages, particularly during VMY 2014.

Prior to the travel mart, the guests are scheduled to attend a briefing on VMY 2014, followed by several presentations by Malaysian industry players and tourism product owners such as Legoland, Science Discoveries, Resorts World Genting Theme Park, Sunway Lagoon, and tour operators.

In addition, a briefing is detailing the coming ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF), which Malaysia will be hosting next year from 16 to 23 January in Kuching, Sarawak. The prestigious event, scheduled to be attended by tourism ministers, senior officials, tourism industry players, and international media, is set to kick off VMY 2014 with a bang.

Finally in the evening, Tourism Malaysia organizes  a VMY 2014 Gala Night, hosted by its Deputy Director General (Promotion) Madam Chong Yoke Har. Besides promoting VMY 2014, the dinner is held to thank the local travel trade members and media for their continued support and assistance in promoting Malaysia.

The Malaysian delegation comprises 17 organisations including Legoland Malaysia, Sunway Lagoon, Resorts World Genting Theme Park, and travel agents.

In 2012, Malaysia received 1,263,024 tourists from Thailand, making it the fourth top tourist generating market to Malaysia. For the first half of this year, a total of 581,642 Thai tourists visited Malaysia. Arrivals from Myanmar were 83,473 last year. For the first half of 2013, Malaysia received a total of 50,213 tourists from Myanmar, which signified an increase of 19.8% compared to the same period last year. Last but not least, a total of 508,744 Filipinos visited Malaysia in 2012. Arrivals from the Philippines for the first half of 2013 were 277,378, which was an increase of 16.5% compared to the same period in 2012.

Sourced: TravelDailyNews