Tourism Malaysia has embarked on a sales mission to India and Sri Lanka from 10-20 March 2014 as part of its efforts to raise awareness on the celebration of Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2014 globally and simultaneously to capture a larger share of the South Asian market for Malaysia's tourism sector.
Tourism Malaysia's Deputy Director General (Planning), Dato' Azizan Nordin led the delegation to Colombo, Kochi and Bangaloreon 10-16 March 2014 meanwhile Director General of Tourism Malaysia, Dato' Mirza Mohammad Taiyab led the delegation to Mumbai and New Delhi on 17-21 March 2014.
Throughout the sales mission, Tourism Malaysia had organised a travel mart in each of the respective cities to provide a platform for the travel trade players to meet and network. These efforts were also aimed to showcase Malaysia's diverse tourism offerings and highlight the scope for collaboration between travel agents in Malaysia and India as well as Sri Lanka. In addition, a special evening programme with cultural performance and fashion show was also organised in the respective cities to promote VMY 2014. Besides that, media interviews, press conferences, and meetings with tour operators were also held.
India has always been an important market for Malaysia. In 2013, a total of 650,989 Indian travelers visited Malaysia, maintaining its position as the sixth top tourist generating market in the country. Meanwhile, tourist arrivals from Sri Lanka were 64,051 in 2013 with an increase of 2.0% from 62,821 in 2012. In 2013, the South Asian region contributed 1.08 million tourists to Malaysia's total arrivals. This signified an increase of 1.9% compared to the number of South Asian tourists in 2012.