TASIKMALAYA, 20 FEBRUARY 2019 – Tourism Malaysia is taking steps to attract more Indonesian tourists and improve yield for leisure and MICE travellers to Malaysia by organising a series of Malaysia-Indonesia Tourism Gathering 2019 sessions in various secondary cities in Indonesia throughout the year.

The first in the series kicks off today at Santika Hotel, Tasikmalaya, where 20 agents and product owners from Malaysia will meet more than 60 of their Indonesian counterparts through networking and business-to-business sessions.

Director of Tourism Malaysia Jakarta, Roslan Othman, says, “Tasikmalaya was chosen because we see the great potential for tourism development here, especially when it comes to business travellers. Tasikmalaya is not far from Bandung which is currently the entry and exit points for tourists from Indonesia to Malaysia and vice versa.”

Tourism Malaysia anticipates that the opening of the West Java International Airport (BIJB) in Kertajati, Majalengka – approximately three hours away from Tasikmalaysia – will open up more travel opportunities between Indonesia and Malaysia and vice versa.

Roslan adds, “Moreover, there are plans for several airlines to establish flight routes from BIJB to Malaysia which will be great for tourism growth between the two destinations.”

Indonesia arrivals to Malaysia has shown an increase of 17.2% with 3,277,689 tourists entering Malaysia for the period of January to December 2018. Contributing to the significant increase were efforts by travel agents, distributors and airlines offering travelers with tactical promotions through travel packages and competitive airfares. For 2019, Malaysia is expecting to welcome 3.6 million Indonesia tourists to its shores.

Last year, the programme was successfully held in four cities, namely Jakarta, Bogor, Yogyakarta and Semarang. The next Malaysia-Indonesia Tourism Gathering programme will continue to Cirebon on 21 February 2019.

ENDS

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:

Muadz Bin Samat, Assistant Director, Media Relations Unit, Corporate Communication Division
Tel: +603-8891 8755 / Email: muadz@tourism.gov.my