SPEECH BY

YBHG DATO’ MIRZA MOHAMMAD TAIYAB

DIRECTOR GENERAL, TOURISM MALAYSIA

IN CONJUNCTION WITH

LAUNCHING OF MYFEST 2015 AT THE MALINDO AIR INAUGURAL

FLIGHT TO KATHMANDU

7 FEB 2015, SATURDAY, 7:30 PM

KUMARI HALL

HOTEL ANNAPURNA, KATHMANDU, NEPAL

1. Good evening, and welcome to launch of the Malaysia Year of Festivals (MyFest) 2015 in conjunction with Malindo Air’s Inaugural Flight to Kathmandu. I would like to personally thank all of you for being here with us this evening.

2. Firstly, on behalf of Tourism Malaysia, I would like to congratulate Malindo Air for this achievement, which represents a significant milestone in tourism cooperation between Nepal and Malaysia. Connectivity is the heart of tourism, and I am sure that the establishment of this new direct route to Malaysia will help increase tourist arrivals and receipts between our two countries.

3. I have been informed that Kathmandu is Malindo Air’s 18th international destination, and the eighth destination in South Asia after five destinations in India and two others in Bangladesh.

4. This is good news to us, as the establishment of this route is in line with Tourism Malaysia’s objective of reaching out to the South Asia region, which has been an important market for Malaysia. For example, from January to October last year, we have welcomed a total of 1.1 million tourists from this region, an increase of 22.2% over the same period in 2013.

5. Nepal itself recorded more than 120,000 within the same period, an increase of 12.7% compared to 2013. When all the figures are in, we hope to have achieved a total of 1.06 million tourist arrivals from the entire South Asia market in 2014.

6. These figures indicate that there is a strong potential in this market area that has yet to be explored, and we are eager to increase our promotional efforts here. This year, we hope to achieve 1.25 million tourist arrivals from the entire South Asia market, in conjunction with the Malaysia Year of Festivals (MyFest) 2015 campaign

MALAYSIA YEAR OF FESTIVALS (MYFEST) 2015 & OTHER ATTRACTIONS

7. As most of you know, this year is the Malaysia Year of Festivals (MyFest) 2015, which is a continuation from the VMY campaign last year. The campaign is designed to give tourists an amazing holiday experience, with an emphasis on the cultural aspect of the many different festivals celebrated by Malaysia’s multi-cultural society.

8. Themed “Endless Celebrations”, a total of 50 cultural events have been identified as the hallmark of our nation’s cultural celebrations and festivals, and we look forward to welcoming you and the rest of the world to join in on the festivities this year.

9. For MyFest 2015, we aim to have 29.4 million tourist arrivals and RM89 billion in tourist receipts, leading up to our ultimate goal of 36 million tourists and RM168 billion in tourist receipts by 2020. This is part of the government’s National Blue Ocean Strategy to create value innovation through public-private partnership collaboration.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

10. Allow me to share some of our other niche tourism products. As most of you know, Malaysia is a shopping haven for tourists. We have been crowned the fourth best shopping city in the world by two consecutive years by CNN, while Kuala Lumpur has been ranked the second best shopping destination in Asia Pacific in a Globe Shopper Index survey. We also have three major annual sale events throughout the year, which are the Malaysia Grand Prix sale, the Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival, and the Malaysia Year End Sale, allowing tourists to take advantage of this event whenever they choose to visit.

11. Malaysia is also one of the most family-friendly destinations in the world, with a multitude of family attractions such as the Sanrio Hello Kitty park, and Legoland Malaysia, which has an upcoming water theme park which is the largest Legoland water theme park in the world, and the first in Asia. Other theme parks and children entertainment centres include Kidzania, i-City, Sunway Lagoon, and the upcoming Twentieth Century Fox World them park that will be opening in 2016.

12. In terms of eco-tourism attractions, Malaysia has been blessed with captivating and diverse landscapes which few countries can match. Tourists have the option of visiting several UNESCO World Heritage Sites, namely Kinabalu Park in Sabah, Mulu National Park in Sarawak, the archaeological heritage of Lenggong Valley in Perak and the historic cities of Melaka and George Town. Langkawi on the other hand, is the only UNESCO-endorsed Geopark in Southeast Asia. Our latest eco-attraction is the Royal Belum Rainforest, which is over 130 million years old.

13. Nature lovers and the adventurous can choose adventure tourism or ecotourism which include cycling, trekking, mountaineering, white water rafting, deep sea diving, snorkelling and caving, as well as visiting wildlife sanctuaries and national parks.

CONCLUSION

14. In conclusion, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Malindo Air once again, and I wish you well for your continuous growth and success in the future. We are relying on you to increase Malaysia’s connectivity to the world, which is crucial in ensuring the success of our tourism industry.

15. To everyone else, I would like to personally invite you to come and participate in MyFest 2015, where you can experience Malaysia’s rich and vibrant culture. Your participation will come a long way in ensuring the success of the campaign, and we look forward to seeing you there.

Thank you, and I wish all of you a very pleasant evening.