Tourism Malaysia kicked off its 2023 sales mission to the Philippines

Tourism Malaysia Published 10 months ago on 25 May 2023 | Author TIN Media
MALAYSIA:

Tourism Malaysia held its maiden sales mission to Manila and Davao this year from May 20 to May 28 to get more Filipino visitors to return to Malaysia. By focusing on specialty markets including those from the family, MICE, health care and medical tourism, education, and digital nomads, the initiative also aims to increase inbound tourism to Malaysia. The delegation, which consists of 19 organizations and is led by Dato' Dr. Ammar Bin Abd. Ghapar, Director General of Tourism Malaysia, includes Melaka Tourism, Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC), Selama District Council of Perak, Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) agency, as well as other key players and product owners

Through the event, the upcoming "Visit Melaka" and "Visit Perak Year 2024" were also highlighted. These Malaysian states were allowed to showcase the distinctive cultures and experiences that tourists can expect their states have to offer; this was done to pave the way and create momentum for the upcoming "Visit Malaysia Year 2025," when Malaysia anticipates receiving 23.5 million international visitors and RM76.8 billion in revenue.

Aside from two seminars held at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City and the Dusit Thani D2 Davao in Davao City, respectively, that concentrated on leisure, shopping, and niche tourism markets, the Malaysian sellers and Filipino customers were brought together through business sessions and gala dinners in both cities.

"The top 10 source markets for foreign travel to Malaysia have consistently been the Philippines. Our task is to move past the pandemic and cooperate to give visitors to ASEAN as a single yet diverse travel destination a seamless and enjoyable experience, says Dato' Dr. Ammar.

Through the new categories highlighted in the sales mission, Tourism Malaysia hopes to steadily grow the number of tourists from the Philippines who visited Malaysia in 2022, which was over 159,442 visitors. Malaysia Airlines, Philippines Airlines, AirAsia, and Cebu Pacific now offer 64 weekly flights from Manila to Malaysia.