PUTRAJAYA, 24 May 2013 – A group of 67 outbound travel agents and 23 media representatives from various parts of Americas, Europe and Oceania have arrived in the country to attend AEROMEET 2013, a special programme organised by Tourism Malaysia.

The 8-day event, beginning today, is a travel trade meet organised for the Americas, Europe and Oceania (AERO) markets to introduce Malaysia’s tourism products and attractions. It aims to reinforce Malaysia’s tourism promotions in these markets, besides establishing a stronger tie with its foreign travel trade partners.

“The event is actually an enhancement of last year’s EUROMEET 2012 which focused only on the European market. In line with the celebration of Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) in 2014, we aim to boost tourist arrivals from Americas, Europe and Oceania markets in order to achieve our target of 28 million tourists next year,” said the Director General of Tourism Malaysia Dato’ Mirza Mohammad Taiyab.

AEROMEET 2013 is comprised of tours and product updates, a travel mart and a travel seminar.

The participants, from the USA, Canada, Russia & CIS, Italy, UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Scandinavia & Baltic, Turkey, Germany, Australia and New Zealand, are scheduled to visit various tourist spots in the country.

Their tours include the Kuala Lumpur City Gallery, the Royal Selangor Pewter, KLCC, and Batu Caves. They are also scheduled to attend Malaysia’s cultural extravaganza, Colours of 1Malaysia, on 25 May before proceeding to their pre-tours to Taman Negara, Terengganu or Sarawak.

The main highlight of AEROMEET 2013 will take place on 29 May in Langkawi, where the Chairman of Langkawi Development Authority (LADA) Tan Sri Khalid Ramli is scheduled to officially open the event and a travel seminar.

In the evening, Tourism Malaysia will be hosting a welcome dinner for all the participants at the Westin Langkawi Beach & Spa Resort. Highlight of the night include group presentations from the participants on their experience during the pre-tour.  

 At the seminar, the participants will get to know more about Visit Malaysia Year 2014 through a presentation by the VMY Secretariat while representative from Nature Specialist will share with them Malaysia’s eco-tourism. It will be followed by a travel mart and business networking session between AERO travel fraternity and Malaysian travel trade members.

A total of 75 Malaysian sellers, comprising state tourism authorities, inbound tour operators, hotels and airline, will be participating in the travel mart to discuss the latest tourism products and services in the country with AERO buyers and develop attractive tour packages to Malaysia.

Among those who lend their support to this programme are the Sarawak Tourism Board, Langkawi Development Authority (LADA), The Royale Chulan Kuala Lumpur, Mutiara Taman Negara, Tanjong Jara Resort, Grand Margherita Hotel, Air Asia X, Berjaya Hotels & Resorts, and Westin Hotel.

With the cooperation from members of the travel trade industry, Tourism Malaysia hopes to make AEROMEET an annual promotional event to complement other promotional efforts.

In 2012, Malaysia recorded a total of 361,253 tourists from Americas, which was an increase of 6.3% compared to 2011. For the same period, tourist arrivals from Europe were 1,130,303 (a hike of 2%) while Oceania arrivals were 507,948 (a decrease of 9%).

For more media releases, media info and media features on Malaysia’s tourism industry, kindly visit the Media Centre of Tourism Malaysia’s website at http://www.tourismmalaysia.gov.my/

MALAYSIA TOURISM PROMOTION BOARD OR TOURISM MALAYSIA is an agency under the Ministry of Tourism & Culture, Malaysia. While the Ministry of Tourism & Culture implements tourism policies, conducts studies and offers incentives for industry players, Tourism Malaysia focuses on the specific task of promoting Malaysia at the domestic and international level. Driven by its aspiration to promote Malaysia as a destination of excellence in this region, Tourism Malaysia has grown by leaps and bounds since its inception and has emerged as a major player in the nation’s socio-economic landscape. In 2012, Malaysia registered 25 million tourist arrivals and RM60.6 billion in tourist receipts.

In 2014, Malaysia will celebrate its fourth VISIT MALAYSIA YEAR (VMY) with the theme “Celebrating 1Malaysia Truly Asia”. The VMY 2014 promotional campaign has started this year with a series of year-long special events and activities leading to VMY 2014. It will contribute to the Government’s target to receive 36 million tourist arrivals and RM168 billion in receipts by 2020, as outlined in the Malaysia Tourism Transformation Plan (MTTP) 2020.    

Press contact:

Media Relations Unit:

Mr. Razaidi Abd Rahim, Senior Asst. Director, Communications & Publicity Division

Email: razaidi@tourism.gov.my

Editorial Unit:

Ms. Anis Rozalina Ramli, Editor, Communications & Publicity Division

Email: anisramli@tourism.gov.my