YBhg. Dato’ Mirza Mohammad Taiyab, Director General, Tourism Malaysia participated in the 6th International Forum on Chinese Outbound Tourism (IFCOT) which was held at the Grand Millennium Hotel in Beijing on 23 & 24 June 2010.

He was pleased to be involved in the event as it gave Malaysia a better understanding of the Chinese outbound market. In addition, it also provided a chance to establish further tourism business opportunity with the leading outbound tour operators and travel agencies from all over China.

Apart from being invited to deliver the welcome speech at the event, YBhg. Dato’ Mirza was also one of the panel speakers during the session on ‘Chinese Short-Haul and Medium–Haul Outbound Tour: Product Improvement & Quality Service’. He also hosted a Malaysia Truly Asia Gala Lunch, which was attended by about 200 guests including the participants and speakers of IFCOT.

YBhg. Dato’ Mirza also paid a courtesy call on Mr. Du Jiang, Vice Chairman of China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and had dinner with the media and selected major travel agents. He was also interviewed by several media.
     
The 6th IFCOT was organised by China Association of Travel Services, Beijing Tourism Administration, World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). Themed ‘Quality Service, Product Improvement and Sustainable Growth’, it encouraged all participants to discuss the upgrading of outbound travel products and the changes in market trend. This is in line with the designation of the year 2010 as ‘Tourism Service Quality Upgrade Year’ in China, where the Chinese government has released a series of policies and regulations to enhance the management on tourism service quality.

The 6th IFCOT was attended by more than 300 participants including Mr. Du Jiang, the Vice Chairman of China National Tourism Administration; Mr. Sun Wei Jia, the Vice Chairman of Beijing Tourism Administration; Mr. Gai Zhi Xin, the Chairman of China Association of Travel Services; Ms. Christine Brew of UNWTO; Mr. Ahmed Latheef, Ambassador of the Maldives to China; as well as high level tourism officers from more than 20 NTO’s, destination suppliers, airlines, insurance companies, hotels and general managers of major outbound travel agents from all over China.     

THE LAUNCH OF ASIAN CRUISE TERMINAL OPERATORS NETWORK (ACTON):

On 24 June, YBhg. Dato’ Mirza was invited to Suzhou, China, to speak at the launch of Asian Cruise Terminal Operators Network (ACTON) which was co-chaired and co-promoted by Shanghai International Cruise Terminal (SICT) and Globalports.

The event aimed to provide a platform for cruise passenger terminal operators that are operating in the Asia region to come together and to network with one another better. The common purpose of ACTON as a network is to help collectively drive the Asia Cruise playground traffic to the next level. 

“With the launch of ACTON, all countries in Asia can now look forward to seeing more cruises coming to Asia and thus to each of our respective Asia countries. By working and coordinating with one another with an open mind via the ACTON committees; the success possibilities will be faster and more productive for all cruise stakeholders”, YBhg. Dato’ Mirza commented.

At the launch, ACTON also became an affiliate member of Asian Cruise Association (ACA), an association where members include all the cruise operators that are cruising in Asia. It will provide another good platform for both ACTON and ACA to further boost the cruise industry in Asia.  

BACKGROUND OF TOURIST ARRIVALS FROM CHINA TO MALAYSIA:

Malaysia registered a total of 23.6 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2009, an increase of 7.2% compared to 2008 (22.05 million). Tourism is currently Malaysia’s second largest foreign exchange earner after manufacturing.

Last year, the country received 1.019 million Chinese tourists, representing a 7.4% increase from 2008 (949,854). For this year, Malaysia’s target is to welcome 1.2 million tourists from China.

                                                                 Issued by:
                                   Communications & Publicity Division, Tourism Malaysia
                                                         Date: 25 June 2010