Tag Archives: Malaysia

Tourism Malaysia has outlined its ambitious plans for growth today during an event held at Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2019 in Dubai. The organisation’s participation is designed to support the objectives of the Visit Malaysia 2020 initiative, which aims to attract more than 30 million tourists and around AED 89 billion in tourist receipts. More than 50 representatives from key stakeholders in Malaysia’s travel and hospitality sectors have travelled to the UAE for the event, where they showcased the latest news and updates on the country’s tourism offerings. The GCC remains a key market for inbound tourism to Malaysia, with total arrivals from West Asia standing at 315,733 during 2018, an increase of 25% on the previous year. The number of visitors from Saudi Arabia increased by 11.7%, while UAE travellers increased by 9.7%. Oman recorded the biggest rise in visitor numbers, at 36.9%. During the same period, visitors from the region contributed more than around AED 2.7 billion to Malaysia’s economy, with tourism receipts rising by 33% compared to 2017. Travellers from GCC countries also recorded the highest average expenditure per person, with visitors from Saudi Arabia spending around AED 10,300, United Arab Emirates around AED 8,300, Oman around AED 7,500, and Kuwait around AED 7,400. Y B Datuk Mohamaddin bin Ketapi, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Malaysia commented, “It is particularly relevant for us to be here during the national Year of Tolerance, which highlights the common values of our two countries by emphasising on the importance of diversity and harmonious coexistence. We look forward to further building on our shared legacy of cultural exchange and extend a warm invitation to travellers from the Middle East to …

Standard Chartered and Hotels.com launched a three-year global strategic alliance that offers Standard Chartered credit cardholders in five countries up to 12% off on hotel bookings around the world on Hotels.com. The alliance will cover the UAE, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. Hotels.com offers hundreds of thousands of properties in more than 200 countries. Neil Daswani, Global Head of Corporate Partnerships, Retail Banking, at Standard Chartered said: “Our clients like to travel well and travel smart – this partnership gives them access to an enormous number of properties and value-for-money deals with a recognised global travel leader.” Abhiram Chowdhry, Vice President, Asia Pacific and Latin America for Hotels.com brand said: “With its well-established position as a premium bank across many Asia Pacific markets, Standard Chartered has a huge base of clients with a strong interest in travel. Our goal is to help streamline their travel planning by enabling the best travel booking experience, including access to useful travel information, great offers and a wide variety of lodging and accommodation options.”