KUALA LUMPUR, 29 May 2014: A total of 46 members of the Sango Taxi Association from Osaka, one of the largest taxi associations in Japan, arrived in Malaysia today for a four-day familiarisation tour. Organised by Tourism Malaysia, it marks an effort to enlist their help to promote Malaysia as a top-of-mind holiday destination for Japanese tourists.  

The participants are divided into groups to visit some of the most popular tourist destinations in the country including Genting Highlands, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, and Selangor, as well as to enjoy a batik or a golf tour.  

The Minister of Tourism and Culture Malaysia Dato’ Seri Mohammad Nazri Abdul Aziz will be hosting a dinner on 1 June to express his appreciation to the members of Sango Taxi Association for their assistance in promoting Malaysia to their passengers and clients once they return to Japan.

The fam tour is a part of Tourism Malaysia’s continuous efforts to promote the wide variety of attractive tourism offerings in the country to Japanese tourists. In fact, since 1 October 2013, Tourism Malaysia has been collaborating with seven taxi associations in Japan from its seven major cities namely Osaka, Tokyo, Kobe, Yokohama, Fukuoka, Nagoya and Sapporo, in an advertising campaign called Taxi Wrapping. It involved a total of 840 taxis with 120 taxis in each city.  

The advertising campaign is in line with the celebration of Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2014 to raise the awareness of this national tourism campaign among Japanese tourists, as well as to strengthen bilateral relations between Malaysia and Japan. Tourism Malaysia is the first national-level tourism organisation that initiated a taxi wrapping campaign overseas.

Japan is one of Malaysia’s top ten tourist generating markets. The first three months of 2014 already registered 149,859 Japanese tourists to Malaysia, signifying an increase of 7.9% compared to the same period in 2013. This year, Malaysia aims to attract 600,000 Japanese tourists to the country in conjunction with VMY 2014.

With better connectivity between Malaysia and Japan through direct flights by Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia X and Japan Airlines from Tokyo (28 flights per week), Osaka (14 flights per week) and Nagoya (4 flights per week), Tourism Malaysia foresees higher passenger traffic between the two countries in the future.

ENDS

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. Tourism Malaysia focuses on the specific task of promoting Malaysia at all levels. Since its inception, Tourism Malaysia has grown by leaps and bounds and it has emerged as a major player in the international tourism scene. In 2013, Malaysia registered 25.7 million tourist arrivals and RM65.4 billion in receipts, making tourism its second largest foreign exchange earner and the sixth highest contributor to its Gross National Income (GNI).

Malaysia is celebrating its fourth VISIT MALAYSIA YEAR (VMY) in 2014 with the theme “Celebrating 1Malaysia Truly Asia”. The VMY 2014 promotional campaign has started in 2013 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
Tel: +603-8891 8768
Email: razaidi@tourism.gov.my

Editorial Unit:
Ms. Anis Rozalina Ramli, Senior Editor, Communications & Publicity Division
Tel: +603-8891 8759
Email: anisramli@tourism.gov.my

* Photo Caption:

The Minister of Tourism and Culture Malaysia Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz (2nd from right) at Tourism Malaysia’s taxi advertising campaign in Osaka, Japan, accompanied by the Director of Tourism Malaysia Tokyo office Noor Azlan Abu Bakar, the Director of Tourism Malaysia Tokyo office Suhaimi Shaharuddin.