KUALA LUMPUR, 13 DECEMBER 2019: Tourism Malaysia organised a special appreciation dinner to acknowledge the support and cooperation received from members of the media and tourism industry players throughout 2019.

Some 350 guests from the media industry as well as local tourism industry players, comprising editors, journalists, bloggers and social media content editors and writers, as well as hoteliers, tourism associations, travel agents and tourism product owners, were invited to share the special evening taking place at The Glasshouse at Seputeh in Kuala Lumpur tonight.

Serving also as an important networking platform for Tourism Malaysia officers to engage with the media and industry players, the occasion was hosted by Director General of Tourism Malaysia, Datuk Musa Yusof, with YB Tuan Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, as guest of honour.

During the welcome speech, Datuk Musa Yusof said: “It seems fitting to end this successful year in this way as an acknowledgement of the strong support given by our media and industry partners for all the events we have organised throughout the year.”

He noted the positive exposure on Malaysia provided by the Malaysian media and thanked them for their professionalism. He also expressed gratitude to the industry players for promoting Malaysia internationally through the “Malaysia Truly Asia” brand, and domestically with the “Cuti-Cuti Malaysia” campaign.

He said: “By working together, we all reap the rewards from tourist arrivals and tourist expenditure, and along the way, reinforce Malaysia as a diverse, harmonious and beautiful tourist destination.”

“Please continue to stand with us in ensuring the success of Visit Malaysia 2020,” he urged.

YB Tuan Muhammad Bakhtiar also acknowledged the support from media and tourism trade players.

He said: “Now that news can travel all over the globe thanks to social media platforms and the power of the Internet, media players shoulder a heavier responsibility in reporting, and need to be more sensitive to the repercussions of their words on the global stage.”

He added: “I look forward to even closer working ties with everyone next year during the Visit Malaysia 2020 to welcome 30 million tourists and RM100 billion receipts. We should be proud to showcase to visitors from all over the world, Malaysia’s peace-loving, multi-cultural society, comprising of more than 200 ethnic communities who have lived in harmonious unity all these years.”

The Deputy Minister also said: “The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and Tourism Malaysia are planning to kick off the Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign in a big way. I take this opportunity to formally invite all of you to take part in welcoming the New Year and the 2020 campaign.”

According to him, the Malaysia Open House Christmas, New Year and launch of Visit Malaysia 2020 will simultaneously be celebrated at Dataran Merdeka on 31 December.

Senior officials of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture along with Tourism Malaysia will head to various air, land and sea entry points in Malaysia to welcome the arrival of the first tourists to Malaysia in 2020 on 1 January. Industry players and members of the media were invited to join in on the occasion as well.

For the year 2019, Tourism Malaysia had organised various media familiarisation trips, industry briefings, press conferences and networking programmes to maintain good relations with the media and industry players.

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, Arts & 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 enquiries, please contact:
Media Unit
Muadz Samat
Assistant Director, Corporate Communication Division
muadz@tourism.gov.my
Tel: +603 8891 8755