PUTRAJAYA, 4 APRIL 2019: Tourism Malaysia had participated in Riyadh Travel Fair (RTF) 2019 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 28 to 30 March 2019, to promote Malaysia as a preferred tourist destination.

For the first time since joining RTF, Tourism Malaysia had invited the Malaysian industry players to participate in the exhibition. Among the Malaysian organisations involved in the exhibition were Sunway Hotels and Resorts, The Haven Ipoh, Mordon Travel & Tourism, Malaysia Airlines, Islamic Tourism Centre, as well as senior officials and colleagues from Tourism Malaysia.

RTF is Saudi Arabia’s largest comprehensive international tourism exhibition that saw the participation of more than 300 companies from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) countries. Since its inception in 2009, the key objectives of RTF is to offer a professional platform for international tourism industry players to network, share information as well as develop their business, with focus on business to business (B2B) segment.

Malaysia’s participation in the exhibition provides an avenue for Malaysia tourism industry players to network and solicit for new business with the Arab counterparts. It is also a platform to update industry players of Malaysia’s latest tourism developments and strengthen awareness on Malaysia as an ideal holiday destination for this market.

RTF was also an effective and strategic platform to promote travel packages to the Arabian countries right before their summer holiday, which would begin in May until the end of the pilgrimage month.

A total of 112,261 tourists from Saudi Arabia visited Malaysia in 2018 compared to 100,549 tourists in 2017, registering an increase of 11.6%. Saudi Arabian tourists continued to top the average length of stay (ALOS) with 10.8 nights and the average expenditure per capita with RM11,555.40.

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 2018, Malaysia registered 25.8 million tourist arrivals and RM84.1 billion tourist receipts, placing it among the major tourism destinations of the world.

For press information, contact:

Muadz Samat
Assistant Director, Corporate Communication Division
muadz@tourism.gov.my
Tel: +603 8891 8755