Luring more Indian tourists
Published on: Tuesday, January 14, 2020
By: Nikko Fabian
KOTA KINABALU: The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) will be introducing fresh itineraries and attractive tour packages to encourage more Indian tourists to visit the country during the year-long Visit Malaysia 2020.
Its President Datuk Tan Kok Liang in a statement said the number of tourists from India has been continuously rising since 2017.
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“India has traditionally been contributing to the tourism industry. The number of tourists from India have been increasing from 552,739 in 2017, 600,311 in 2018 and 750,000 are expected in 2019, an increase of 23.2pc,” he said.
Tan said Matta recently inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with national travel associations from India namely Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), Travel Agents Federation of India (Tafi) and Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (Otoai) to boost tourism between Malaysia and India in conjunction with Visit Malaysia 2020.
According to Tan, Malaysia is ready to welcome foreign tourists including from India for the Visit Malaysia 2020 and that the MoU is a winning collaboration between Matta, TAAI, Tafi and Otoai, which augurs well for tourism in both countries.
He said this year’s target for more tourist arrivals from India is achievable as the Malaysian government had extended the Electronic Travel Registration and Information (eNTRI) system, which exempt tourists from India and China from applying for a 15-day visa.
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He said due to intense promotions by Tourism Malaysia, which is supported by Matta, the association trust that the growth is backed by increase in air connectivity, development of new tourism products and the capacity to accommodate more tourists.
“Matta will continue to support the government and Tourism Malaysia in developing India as a stronger tourist source market and will work with airlines to add new routes and increase flight frequencies for scheduled flights and explore the feasibility of charter flights to meet market demand.” he said.
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The MoU was signed by Tan, TAAI President Jyoti Mayal, Tafi Acting President Pradip Lulla and Otoai General Secretary Shravan Bhalla.
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