On 17 November 2011, the Tourism Malaysia (TM) office The Hague, together with Travel Sensations (a Belgian travel wholesale) and YTL Hotels organized a tourism seminar and networking reception at the Malaysia Restaurant Kuala Lumpur in Antwerp. H.E. Dato' Zainuddin Yahya, Ambassador of Malaysia to Belgium was invited as Guest of Honour of the event.
In his remarks, H.E. Ambassador thanked Tourism Malaysia office, Travel Sensations and YTL Hotels for their efforts in promoting Malaysia to the Belgian market, particularly tour operators, mainly based in Antwerp. H.E. Ambassador highlighted to the audience that apart from the beautiful landscape of the country, one should enjoy the Malaysian food. He informed that food is available even after midnight in Malaysia. Lastly, he hoped that the guests would enjoy the presentation that would be given by the organizers.
In his remarks, Mr. Rosman Ahmad, Director of Tourism Office highlighted on the Tourism Familiarization Trips to Malaysia that were organized by his office to the 20 tour operators that attended the seminar. He informed that there had been an increase in the number of tourists from Belgium to Malaysia. In 2010, the Malaysian tourism sector had generated €15.8 billion in revenue for the country.
Also during the seminar, Mr. Olivier Van Wassenhove, Associate Director (Sales and Marketing) of Travel Sensations, Mr. Emmanuel De Smeth, Malaysia Airlines Sales Executive (Belgium and Luxembourg) and Ms. Sharon Leong of YTL Hotels promoted their products that could be considered by the tour operators to be included as part of their possible tour packages.
