Tourism Breaking News
The inaugural virtual press conference was held on the opening day at the Gulf Travel Show 2021 conducted by Tourism Malaysia. It started off with the promotional video for Malaysia Truly Asia, which transported you virtually from pristine beaches to amazing nature getaways, cultural splendor at Sarawak village, street food and fine dining options, theme parks with the longest water slide, and the famous Petronas tower describing the breathtaking destination of Malaysia.
Mohamed Lotfy – PR & Communications from Tourism Malaysia Dubai office welcomed the media and introduced the speakers for the press conference.
Opening remarks were made by Manoharan Periasamy – Senior Director of International Promotion Asia & Africa Division – Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, greeted the Middle East and Indian media for their presence. “It is good to connect with all of you for the first time from Middle East and India together at the second edition of the Gulf Travel Show. We participated in November 2020 for the first time at the Gulf Travel Show and due to the positive feedback received from the travel trade we pledged our support as a diamond partner at this second edition with 10 selected partners from Malaysia showcasing their many offerings for two whole days. It is a great opportunity to be with the industry players from Middle East and India as they are two of the key source markets; Middle East in top 5 and India in top 10. For this year, we are promoting the hashtag #WeMissYou to the market indicating that we miss the tourists coming to our beautiful country and can’t wait to see them again at the Malaysian shore soon. Malaysia has already placed strict SOP’s and at present open for business travellers. We are looking at opening travel bubbles with our neighbouring countries like Singapore and Thailand and by Q3 or 2022 exploring to open to other markets starting with China, Japan and India and then reaching the Middle East. We are constantly reviewing all possibilities, SOPs are already in place for various touristic areas and hotels in keeping with international standard.”
Shahrin Mokhtar, Director of Tourism Malaysia – Dubai shared, “We have been keeping the Middle East agents engaged by conducting a specialized training programme to learn more about the destination and all its offerings, our participation in the Gulf Travel Show for the second consecutive time will renew partnerships and look at creating new ones as well. We will also be participating at the Arabian Travel Market both physically and virtually to further keep the travel trade informed of all the necessary steps taken by the nation to welcome visitors when borders open. Our participation at the Gulf Travel Show is very important as our partners are provided the opportunity to meet buyers from the Middle East and India and see what kind of new packages need to be designed in keeping with their client’s needs and sell them when the borders open. Top markets from the Middle East has been Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE and Kuwait. Tourism Malaysia has become the Diamond partner in GTS 2021 to further communicate the “Malaysia Truly Asia” brand to the travel industry fraternity in MENA and India markets.”
