KUALA LUMPUR, 22 August 2022: Tourism Malaysia organised its first sales mission to two major cities in Thailand, namely Songkhla and Bangkok, last week, ending the two-year pause in roadshows to its northern neighbour.
Malaysia reopened its borders to tourism last April, and officials have identified Thailand’s outbound travellers as a priority to kickstart recovery in addition to India, Singapore and Indonesia.
The sales mission to Songkhla in the deep south, followed by Bangkok, was led by Minister of Tourism, Arts & Culture, Dato’ Sri Hajah Nancy Shukri and Malaysia’s tourism fraternity which consists of a Malaysia-based airline, travel agents, hoteliers, and travel content owners.
Thailand remains one of Malaysia’s essential short-haul markets. In 2019, Malaysia welcomed 1,884,306 arrivals from Thailand, and almost 70% of Thais tourists had previously visited the country.
Tourism Malaysia said the mission’s objective was to instil confidence among Thais that they could revisit Malaysia safely while creating a platform for the travel industry to recover quickly.
Dato’ Sri Nancy commented: “The past two years have been tremendously challenging for us, but ever since the reopening of our international border last April, I am glad to let you know that we have surpassed our initial target of 2 million international tourist arrivals with MYR8.6 billion in tourism receipts. Hence, we have revised our target of welcoming 4.5 million international tourist arrivals with MYR11.1 billion in tourism receipts this year as we are optimistic about achieving higher numbers.”
Since April 2022, Thailand has ranked second after Singapore in tourist arrivals. Tourist arrivals from Thailand could reach 800,000 by the end of the year.
“We are delighted to invite Thai travellers to experience our newly developed attractions, including our outdoor theme park in the highlands – the newly-opened Genting SkyWorld, and the magnificent Merdeka 118 Tower in Kuala Lumpur, currently standing as the world’s second-tallest building.
“For example, many Thais may not have been to the two Malaysian Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak. Thus, we hope to attract more international travellers to explore Sabah and Sarawak,” she said at Tourism Malaysia’s networking dinner during the sales mission.
Malaysia welcomes fully-vaccinated international travellers. They are no longer required to complete the Traveller’s Card or undergo a Pre-Departure Test (PDT) and On Arrival Test (OAT) for their visit to Malaysia. Travel insurance is also no longer a prerequisite for foreigners entering the country.
(Source: Tourism Malaysia and Bernama)
