The Tourism Section (Tourism Malaysia) of the Consulate General of Malaysia in Guangzhou held a Tourism Seminar on the 7 March 2013 for Chinese travel organisations. The Seminar was followed by a one week Malaysia Culture Festival held at the Asia Pacific Club in Guangzhou. The Consul General, Mr. Francisco Munis has in his opening speech encouraged all local tourism players to continue their support to Malaysia and also thanked them for their contributions in bringing Chinese tourists to Malaysia.
He also emphasized that with Malaysia’s multi cultural background that is simply beautiful, amazing rainforests, islands and beaches, besides being a haven for shopping, entertainment and food, Malaysia is surely an ideal place as a Second Home for the Chinese people to spend their holiday, expand business or simply to enjoy retirement.
During a press interview, the Consul General informed that Malaysia My Second Home Programme was promoted by the Government of Malaysia to allow foreigners who fulfill certain criteria, to stay in Malaysia for as long as possible on a multiple entry social visit pass. From 2002 to November of 2012, the MM2H programme has attracted 20,328 participants. China ranked the top with a total of 3,562 participants.
The diverse attractions and vast tourism resources in Malaysia will definitely appeal to the Chinese people. Chinese tourists’ arrival to Malaysia has been on a steady increase. In 2012, Malaysia received a total of 1,558,785 Chinese tourists, an increase of 24.6% compared to the same period in 2011. For that, the Consul general thanked all Malaysia’s partners in China for the hard work and commitment in promoting Malaysia as a popular destination.
