KUALA LUMPUR, 11 March 2020 - Visa Malaysia has entered a long-term partnership with Tourism Malaysia to support the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC) in driving inbound tourism and promote Malaysia as a preferred travel destination.

In the spirit of Visit Malaysia 2020, Tourism Malaysia and Visa mark an important partnership to drive inbound tourists, and drive Malaysia to be a preferred destination for travel especially in shopping segment.

Shopping in Malaysia is considered one of the popular tourist activities due to the favourable exchange rates, quality of products, and diversity of choices. According to Tourism Malaysia, for the past four straight years, shopping was the biggest share of tourist expenditure for Malaysia, taking up 35.2 per cent of the total tourist receipts in Jan-Sept 2019 at RM 23.3 billion. This showed an increase of 14.4 per cent compared to 2018.

Visa will be harnessing its data analytics capabilities and research to generate useful traveller insights. Through collaborative co-creation with Tourism Malaysia, this will help to transform tourists’ travel experiences when they visit Malaysia.

The partnership will also leverage on Visa Preferred Merchant Programme (VPM) which features a variety of rewards and benefits popular amongst tourists visiting Malaysia. The benefits include dining, shopping, family entertainment and medical wellness offers for Visa cardholders. These benefits will be shared through Visa and Tourism Malaysia’s digital media and distribution channels globally. In addition, Visa will also help to promote domestic tourism in collaboration with Tourism Malaysia’s Cuti-Cuti Malaysia campaign and share a variety of offers that are relevant for local Visa cardholders.

Present at the signing ceremony was Datuk Musa Hj. Yusof, Director General Tourism Malaysia. He said, “MOTAC and Tourism Malaysia have embarked on several efforts to promote Malaysia as a must-visit tourism destination and we want to provide a conducive environment for businesses in Malaysia to drive and boost tourism growth. With Visa coming on board as a preferred payments partner to help promote Malaysia as a tourist destination, we are confident that we can attract more inbound tourists and enhance their experiences here in the country.”

“Visa is excited to collaborate with Tourism Malaysia to promote Truly Asia Malaysia. This strategic partnership is a milestone for both Visa and Tourism Malaysia. Malaysia has many outstanding travel spots, and we want to help achieve Tourism Malaysia’s goal of becoming one of the world’s top tourist destinations. We are able to leverage our analytics capabilities to provide insights on travellers visiting Malaysia and our extensive global network to further help Tourism Malaysia promote Malaysia as a leading tourist destination in the world,” said Ng Kong Boon, Visa Country Manager for Malaysia.

“In addition, Visa has more than 3.4 billion cards worldwide, and enabling our cardholders to make full use of their privileges when they travel using our preferred merchant programme is important to us,” added Ng Kong Boon.

Ng Kong Boon, Country Manager of Visa Malaysia delivering his speech.

Datuk Musa Hj. Yusof, Director General Tourism Malaysia delivering his speech.

From left to right: Tuan Syed Yahya Syed Othman, Director of Package Development, Tourism Malaysia; Datuk Musa Hj. Yusof, Director General of Tourism Malaysia; Ng Kong Boon, Country Manager of Visa Malaysia; Jason Puah, Head of Business Development, Visa Malaysia; Azrin Azlina Anuar, Senior Director Government Engagement Southeast Asia, Visa.

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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.

Press Information:
Mr Muadz Samat
Assistant Director
Corporate Communication Division
Email: muadz@tourism.gov.my
Tel: +603 8891 8755

VISA INC. (NYSE: V) is the world’s leader in digital payments. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company’s relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of digital commerce on any device for everyone, everywhere.?As the world moves from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce. For more information, visit? www.visa.com.my

Media Contacts:
Grace Tan
Visa Worldwide Pte. Limited
Tel: +65 6671 5468

Josephine Yeo
Ruder Finn Asia
Tel: +6016 810 5085
E-mel: yeoj@ruderfinnasia.com