Tourism Malaysia is organizing a Mega Familiarisation Programme (Mega Fam) for a total of 239 participants from 24 countries in conjunction with the F1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix (GP) 2009 that will be held at the Sepang International Circuit from 3 to 5 April.

The participants, comprising travel agents, journalists and TV crew members from Australia, Bahrain, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Denmark, Finland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Latvia, Mauritius, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, Syria, Thailand, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates will attend a tourism seminar at Istana Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, on 2 April 2009.

They will listen to a presentation on medical tourism by YBhg. Dato’ Dr Jacob Thomas, the President of Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia, followed by  presentations on Air India and Malaysia Airlines, as well as a presentation on Malaysia My Second Home by Mr. J. Andrew Davison. Later, they will be feted to a dinner hosted by the Hon. Dato’ Sri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Malaysia. The following day, they will witness the F1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit.

Besides this event, educational visits to selected tourism products and destinations within the country are also conducted for the participants.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Mega Fam programme is organised with the support from local and foreign airlines, Malaysian hotels and state governments. Its main objective is to offer the participants a personal experience of what Malaysia has to offer to tourists. The exposure is also to heighten their awareness about tourist destinations, products and services in Malaysia in order to develop tour packages and generate publicity on the country as a preferred leisure and MICE destination.

However, since the beginning of this year, the Mega Fam Secretariat has been focusing more on promoting niche tourism products such as homestay, Malaysia My Second Home Programme and Health Tourism to its participants, in line with the Ministry of Tourism’s aspirations to promote these areas.

The publicity and exposure gained, especially through the participation of foreign media in this programme, has been very high. A total of 3,389 participants were hosted last year, generating a publicity value of over RM100 million. A total of 26 programmes were organised last year in conjunction with major festivals and tourism events.

For other media releases by Tourism Malaysia, please log on to www.tourism.gov.my. Among the latest releases are on Malaysia’s tourist arrivals statistics and niche tourism products, i.e. Homestay, Education tourism, Malaysia My Second Home programme, etc.

For more information on Mega Fam programmes, please contact:
Mr Rohaiza Haris
Mega Fam Secretariat
Communications & Publicity Division, Tourism Malaysia
25th Floor, Menara Dato’ Onn, Putra World Trade Centre
45, Jalan Tun Ismail, 50480 Kuala Lumpur
Tel : +603 2615 8188
Fax : +603 2615 8299
E-mail: megafamsecretariat@tourism.gov.my

Issued by: Communications & Publicity Division, Tourism Malaysia
Date: 2 April 2009
For more information, please contact Sharon Wong at +603 26158448
Or email sharonwong@tourism.gov.my
Website: www.tourism.gov.my