KUALA LUMPUR, 7 MAY 2018: Malaysia has been selected as the meeting venue of the European Travel Agents’ and Tour Operators’ Associations in Europe (ECTAA) from 7 to 9 May 2018. It is the first time that any country outside of Europe has been selected.

Speaking to the media today, the Director General of Tourism Malaysia, Datuk Seri Mirza Mohammad Taiyab, thanked ECTAA for choosing Malaysia as the venue for its meeting. He said, “The selection of Malaysia as meeting venue of ECTAA’s 117th Semi Annual Meeting 2018 was made in light of Malaysia being the ECTAA Preferred Destination Partner for 2018.”

The meeting and titleship benefits are expected to boost Malaysia’s branding and presence in Europe ahead of the Visit Malaysia 2020 initiative.

Datuk Seri Mirza said, “We are genuinely interested to strengthen our presence in this market. We hope to serve our Europe partners better and give complete assurance of our commitment to tourism growth.”

Last year’s tourism performance saw Malaysia welcoming a total of 25.9 million tourists to Malaysia (-3.0% compared to arrivals in 2016) with RM82.2 billion in receipts (+0.1% compared to 2016). Of this figure, 1.1 million tourist arrivals were from Europe, a drop of 1.7% compared to 2016. For 2018, Tourism Malaysia hopes to welcome 33.1 million tourists from all over the world and record RM134 billion in tourism receipts.

Other marketing and promotion initiatives to strengthen arrivals from the Europe market include Malaysia’s “Official ITB Partner Country” titleship at Germany’s largest tourism industry gathering; the establishment of a Frankfurt-Kuala Lumpur winter route by Condor Airlines; and the establishment of a cruise programme that would bring in a potential 7,200 European tourists to Malaysia over the winter holidays.

ECTAA now represents the national associations of travel agents and tour operators of 27 EU Member States, of two EU accession countries as well as Switzerland and Norway, and three international members.

The meeting sees a total of 50 participants congregating in Malaysia, comprising mainly top-level management and key decision-makers, and is a significant opportunity for Malaysia to showcase its best tourist attractions.

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.tourism.gov.my/

MALAYSIA TOURISM PROMOTION BOARD OR TOURISM MALAYSIA is an agency under the Ministry of Tourism & Culture, Malaysia. It focuses on the specific task of promoting Malaysia as a preferred tourism destination. Since its inception, it has emerged as a major player in the international tourism scene. In 2017, Malaysia registered 25.9 million tourist arrivals, placing it among the major tourism destinations of the world.

Press contact:

Media Relations Unit:

Aliza Mansor, Senior Assistant Director, Corporate Communication Division
Tel: +603-8891 8789
Email: aliza@tourism.gov.my

Editorial Unit:

Anis Rozalina Ramli (Ms), Senior Editor, Corporate Communication Division
Tel: +603-8891 8759
Email: anisramli@tourism.gov.my