SPEECH BY

YBHG DATO' MIRZA MOHAMMAD TAIYAB

DIRECTOR GENERAL, TOURISM MALAYSIA

IN CONJUNCTION WITH

TOURISM MALAYSIA'S NETWORKING DINNER AT

THE 22nd SOUTH ASIA TRAVEL TRADE EXCHANGE (SATTE) 2015

30 JAN 2015, FRIDAY, 8:00 PM

LE MERIDIAN HOTEL

PRAGATI MAIDAN, NEW DELHI, INDIA

SALUTATIONS:

Distinguished guests,
Members of the media,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Good evening, and welcome to Tourism Malaysia's networking dinner at the South Asia Travel Trade Exchange or SATTE 2015.

INTRODUCTION, STATISTICS & VMY 2014:

Firstly, on behalf of Tourism Malaysia and members of my delegation, I would like to congratulate the organisers for successfully staging the 22nd edition of this event, which has become a major tourism event in India. For your information, this is also the tenth year of Malaysia's participation in SATTE, marking a decade of our commitment to the markets in the South Asia region. I am also proud to announce that this year we are a partner to this event, and we look forward to the success of SATTE 2015.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

India has always been an important market for Malaysia. It has consistently been one of the top 10 tourist generating markets to the country, and has continuously made significant contributions to our tourist arrivals and tourist receipts. Over 643,000 Indian tourists visited Malaysia from January to October last year, representing a growth of 20.7 per cent compared to the same period in the previous year.

This year, the UNWTO estimates that India is one of the fastest growing outbound travel markets in the world, and will account for 50 million outbound tourist by 2020. This is complemented by the increase of additional flights by Malindo Air, Air Asia, and Air India to Malaysia, with a combined total of 159 direct flights to India per week, increasing the connectivity between our two countries.

Therefore, we must take advantage of this opportunity and continue our aggressive promotional efforts in this region by organising various sales missions and participating in prestigious tourism exhibitions such as this, through our offices in Chennai, Mumbai, and New Delhi.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

MALAYSIA YEAR OF FESTIVALS (MYFEST) 2015 & OTHER ATTRACTIONS

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.

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.

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.

To that end, I would like to invite all of you to work with each other and develop new tourism products and packages that will highlight our culture, and promote it as a tourist attraction to the rest of the world.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Allow me to share some of our other niche tourism products. Last year, Malaysia was awarded the 'Asia's Best Golf Destination' award at the inaugural World Golf Awards 2014. One of our new golf courses, the Els Club Teluk Datai in Langkawi, was also awarded the 'World's Best New Golf Course'. We have over 200 golf courses open throughout the year in Malaysia, which contributed more than RM300 million in golf tourism receipts in 2013.

Malaysia also has other tourism products that embrace the concept of luxury, such as spa vacations, wedding and honeymoon destinations, helicopter tours, and parks and gardens.

For example, tourists can pamper themselves at award-winning international hotels and resorts that offer spa treatments and exceptional service such as the Majestic KL, Grand Hyatt KL and Gaya Island Resort in Sabah. We are also set to witness the opening of many more world-class luxury hotels in the coming months such as the St. Regis, Harrods, Four Seasons Place KL, W Hotel, and The Regent.

Wedding and honeymoon is another growing segment that has captured the heart of many Indian couples who have chosen various exotic destinations in Malaysia to perform their weddings. We have been encouraging our local operators to create more packages for this niche product. Whether it is a traditional wedding amid rustic village setting, or a lovely bash in a modern hotel, Malaysia offers a wide variety of wedding and honeymoon packages to suit couples.

CONCLUSION

Before I conclude, I would like to take this opportunity to extend our deepest gratitude to all of you for your support in our tourism promotional campaigns thus far. It is my sincere hope that industry players especially in India can all work together with your Malaysian partners to make MyFest 2015 a success. We look forward to receiving your full support and assistance to ensure the success of all our future promotions and marketing efforts. Till then, let me conclude by thanking all of you, once again, for having accepted our invitation to be here.