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Tourism Malaysia is going all out to increase tourist arrivals after suffering a sharp decline in numbers in the past year. It’s conducting a series of roadshows around Australia with the theme “Affordable Luxury” and last night wholesalers and airlines showcased their luxury Malaysia product in Sydney, after visiting South Australia and Tasmania. It will go on to Brisbane and Auckland.
“We had a decline in tourist arrivals last year from 580,000 to 555,000, so we have to be more aggressive in the future if we want to arrest that”, said Shahrin Mokhtar, Tourism Malaysia Director for Australia. He put the decline down to increased competition from neighbouring Asian countries, but he stressed that Malaysia is one of the most affordable countries in the region with bargain shopping, cheap food, even luxury hotels offer affordable packages, he told TD. “And we are close, only 3 movies away on flights from Australia and with our multi cultural population, you can see almost all of Asia in Malaysia”. He’s hoping that tourist numbers will spike upward with Air Asia X offering really cheap fares from Australia and the start of Malaysia Airlines A380 daily flights from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur from 26 September. Chris Hallett, The Travel Corporation |
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