Malaysia eyes 7 lakh Indian tourists in 2019

Hyderabad: Tourism Malaysia on Thursday said it had set a target to attract 7.28 lakh Indian tourists in 2019, an upswing of 15.5 per cent from the previous year.

It attracted 5.94 lakh Indians in 2018. "India is among the top 10 countries that send highest number of tourists to Malaysia. It consistently ranks around 6.

Therefore, statistics from January until May 2019 show that a total of 295,609 Indians visited Malaysia compared to same period last year.

This translates into a year-on-year growth of 15.5 per cent and we are confident of maintaining similar growth throughout 2019," Sulaiman Suib, Director (North & East India), Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, told the media here on Thursday after inaugurating Visit Malaysia 2020 Campaign.

Tourism Malaysia embarked on a three-city roadshow to promote Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign. It covered Amritsar and Mumbai before holding the roadshow in Hyderabad, in which 16 travel agents, four product owners, nine hotels, three airlines and five others, are taking part. The roadshow will conclude on July 27.

Replying to a query, Suib said that Indian tourists spent RM 84.13 billion in Malaysia in 2018, which works out to be around $1,000 per individual.

"Our hotel tariffs are a lot cheaper than what some Indian luxury hotels charge. That way, holidaying in Malaysia is cheaper," he pointed out. He hoped that Indian tourist traffic would touch 1 million mark in 2020.

"There are 155 weekly flights between Malaysia and cities in South India, which accounts for 60-65 per cent of total Indian tourist arrivals. From Hyderabad, there are 14 flights to Malaysia," he said.