SPEECH BY

YBHG. DATO’ HAJI AZIZAN NOORDIN

DEPUTY DIRECTOR GENERAL (PLANNING)

TOURISM MALAYSIA

OFFICIAL LAUNCHING OF

MALAYSIA PREMIUM TRAVEL FAIR (MPTF) PENANG 2015

6 MARCH 2015, FRIDAY, 2:30PM

PENANG INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION

CENTRE ARENA (SPICE), PENANG

SALUTATIONS:

Y.BHG. DATO’ MOHD KHALID HARUN

Chairman of MPTF Penang Travel Fair 2015

Y.BRS. EN. HARUN PILUS

Director of Tourism Malaysia Penang

Board of Directors of WITM Event Sdn Bhd,

Distinguished guests,

Members of the media,

Ladies & gentlemen,

PLEASANTRIES / OPENING:

1. Good afternoon. It gives me great pleasure to be here to officially launch the Malaysia Premium Travel Fair. First of all, I would like to congratulate the organiser WITM EVENT and the Organising Committee for their initiative and effort in putting together this travel fair, which I understand is the first of its kind to be organised in Penang.

2. This effort should indeed be applauded as Malaysia has a great potential to be promoted and marketed as a destination for luxury holidays and experiences.

3. Every year, various travel fairs are being organised in the country; unfortunately, not enough attention is given to the promotion of our premium and luxury tourism products and services. Therefore, I believe we should move forward and bring our tourism industry to the next level. Besides, there’s no better time to do this than now as we’re celebrating the Malaysia Year of Festivals (MyFest) 2015 where the country is abuzz with many exciting tourism events throughout the year.

4. Being the second largest hub in Malaysia, Penang is definitely the perfect place to promote luxury tourism offerings especially attractions from the northern region. Moreover, it has direct flights from Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, China and Korea that bring affluent tourists to Penang. Therefore, I believe this travel fair will provide an excellent platform for all of you to promote your luxury and premium tour packages, products, and services.

Ladies and gentlemen,

LUXURY TOURISM IN MALAYSIA:

5. The organising of this travel fair certainly goes in line with the Government’s objective to attract a larger share of high yield travellers and capturing a bigger share of high growth segments.

6. This is based on the Malaysia Tourism Transformation Plan where the Ministry of Tourism and Culture is at the forefront to encourage innovation and creativity to boost the tourism industry to achieve our target of 36 million tourist arrivals and RM168 billion in receipts by the year 2020.

7. Through the Ministry, the Government has come out with strategies to build density, develop clusters and build highvalue sectors in tourism. Our role is to set the broad strategic direction and provide an enabling environment for all of you to participate competitively and drive tourism growth.

8. In fact, most of the 12 Entry Point Projects of the Tourism NKEA are focusing on growing the high yield segment. These include promoting our shopping sector, targeting more international events, expanding sports tourism, making Malaysia a leading business tourism destination, and improving rates, mix and quality of hotels.

9. Malaysia offers a wide selection of luxurious accommodation and experiences to cater to affluent visitors. We also offer spa and wellness vacations, golfing holidays, wedding and honeymoon, duty-free shopping sprees and helicopter tours, among others.

10. Many high-end hotels and resorts have opened their doors in Malaysia, including Gaya Island Resort in Sabah, the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur, and the Majestic KL. Many more are coming soon, such as St. Regis, Four Seasons Place KL and the 7-star Harrods Hotel.

11. As for shopping, I’m sure most you are aware that Kuala Lumpur was ranked fourth for two consecutive years, 2012 and 2013, in CNN’s survey of the World’s Best Shopping City. Globe Shopper Index listed our capital city the second Best Shopping Destination in Asia Pacific.

12. Recently, Malaysia has also been named Asia’s Best Golf Destination at the inaugural World Golf Awards 2014, held in Portugal. We received seven awards at the event, including World’s Best New Golf Course for the Els Club Teluk Datai in Langkawi.

13. In addition, I’m also pleased to inform you that Malaysia is the fourth Best Retirement Haven in the world and the first in Asia. The ranking is based on internationalliving.com’s annual global retirement index 2015.

14. For shoppers, numerous malls offering upmarket international labels await them. We also have the Johor Premium Outlets. And coming soon is the Mitsui Outlet Park KLIA, which is set to be the largest factory outlet mall in Southeast Asia.

15. In brief, Malaysia has all it takes to be promoted as an ideal holiday destination for high-end travellers.

Ladies and gentlemen,

CONCLUSION:

16. Like I’ve mentioned just now, we are currently celebrating MyFest, which is a continuation of Visit Malaysia Year 2014. Hence, I strongly urge all of you to develop more interesting and personalised product packages to meet the increasingly experienced, demanding and sophisticated tourists.

17. If you are ready to do your bit, we are ready to do ours. With your continued support, I am confident that we will have a successful Malaysia Year of Festivals, and we will be able to make Malaysia a premier tourist destination.

18. In conclusion, I would like to extend my best wishes to the organiser and all the participants. On that note, it gives me great pleasure to officially launch the Malaysia Premium Travel Fair 2015.

Thank you.