PUTRAJAYA, 4 July 2023: Two groups of travel trade partners, comprising 17 travel agents from Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), recently joined six-day/five-night familiarisation trips hosted by Tourism Malaysia.
The trips are part of a promotion focussing on “Malaysia’s colourful city and fun destinations”, presenting the latest product information.
Held in collaboration with Air Arabia, the first group from Iran travelled from Tehran via Sharjah in UAE to Kuala Lumpur to experience several tourism spots, including KLCC, KL Tower, Istana Negara, Merdeka Square, Central Market and Batu Caves before proceeding to the Lexis Hibiscus, Port Dickson to discover five-star luxury beach resorts. The eight participants also had the opportunity to visit Putrajaya and a wide range of indoor and outdoor activities at Resorts World Genting.
The second trip involved nine travel agents from UAE, including representatives from Air Arabia, boarding from Sharjah to Kuala Lumpur. Participants enjoyed water sports activities at Lexis Hibiscus Port Dickson, sightseeing around Kuala Lumpur, and visits to the brand-new Genting Skyworld and Sunway Lagoon.
Tourism Malaysia director-general Dato Dr Ammar Abd Ghapar said: “Tourism Malaysia continues to enhance Malaysia’s tourism promotion to the Middle Eastern market apart from active participation in the latest edition of the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2023 last May.”
“We hope the participating travel agents in this FAM Trips will fervently support us in selling tour packages to their respective markets in promoting Malaysia as a safe, value-for-money and preferred holiday destination.”
Last year, foreign tourists from Iran and UAE registered 7,570 and 3,230 arrivals to Malaysia, compared to 46,559 and 11,174 arrivals during the pre-pandemic level in 1999, respectively. There are currently three weekly Air Arabia direct flights from Sharjah to Kuala Lumpur, with a seating capacity of 1,944 seats.
