PUTRAJAYA, 1 December 2013 – The Minister of Tourism and Culture Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz and senior officials of Tourism Malaysia are meeting at Tourism Malaysia Directors Conference 2013 for annual consultations. The 6-day event, which kicks off today at Pullman Putrajaya Lakeside Hotel, involves 67 overseas directors, state directors, and marketing officers of Tourism Malaysia, as well as its PR agencies.

With the theme VMY 2014 – Sharing With The World, the core objective of the conference is to accelerate  marketing efforts in promoting next month’s Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2014, as well as to ensure the arrivals target of 28 million tourists with a revenue of RM76 billion (USD24 billion) is fully realised.

Another key agenda of the conference is to deliberate and finalise details of the grand launch of VMY 2014, as well as to launch Tourism Malaysia Integrated Digital Marketing Programme, which is specially developed to support VMY 2014 promotional efforts. 

The official launch of VMY 2014 is scheduled to take place on 4 January 2014 at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur. The VMY 2014 Secretariat has also developed an official website, www.vmy2014.com exclusively featuring comprehensive information and details of this much anticipated event.

Programmes during the conference include proactive sessions and meetings with the Minister of Tourism and Culture, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, and the top management of Tourism Malaysia including its Chairman, the Director General, the Deputy Director General (Planning), the Deputy Director General (Promotion), and various Division Directors, as well as the General Manager of the VMY 2014 Secretariat.

Other discussions during the conference include Tourism Malaysia’s Promotional Plan for 2014/2015, latest updates on Malaysia’s tourism development and tourism products, current performance, on-going promotional efforts, marketing strategies and also activities to be carried out on a global scale .

To update all the overseas and state directors, as well as marketing officers, on the prevailing market trends, Tourism Malaysia has invited various organisations to share their presentations during the conference, namely Pullman Hotel, Performance Management and Delivery Unit (PEMANDU), Iskandar Malaysia, Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB), Touch ‘n Go, Genting Malaysia Berhad, EMKAY Group, and i-City, as well as the Mayor of Kuala Lumpur.

For the first time, there will be an Immersion Workshop to create a platform to encourage all the directors and marketing officers to work closely with travel trade members, as well as to exchange information and ideas pertaining to the development of the country’s tourism industry. 

There will also be a session with advertising agencies engaged by Tourism Malaysia including Naga DDB, Sen Media, SMASCOM, M&C Saatchi, and Impact Creations. In addition, a State Directors Meeting will also be held to discuss the development of the domestic tourism industry.

Tourism Malaysia has also lined up several product updates in between the conference to expose the overseas directors, state directors and marketing officers to some of the latest tourism offerings in the country. The product updates include bicycle rides and bird watching in Putrajaya, and a visit to the Sultan Abdul Aziz Royal Gallery in Klang and I-City in Shah Alam. 

On 6 Dec, overseas PR agencies will proceed to Melaka to have a special session with Tourism Malaysia’s Director of Communications & Publicity Division, and also enjoy a tour of Melaka city.  

ENDS