By Rafiq Vayani
DUBAI/KUALA LUMPUR: Tourism Malaysia’s efforts to publicize its comprehensive promotional activities continues to the Middle Eastern region. The Malaysian delegation is led by the The Honourable Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts & Culture Malaysia, to participate once again in the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai from 1st to 4th May 2023 at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC).
The four-day ATM offers Malaysia as an excellent platform to market and promote the latest attractions and destinations for shopping, family fun, eco-adventure, honeymoon, luxury holidays, as well as safe travel destination. ATM 2023 also marks the 29th anniversary of Malaysia’s participation in this prestigious event, which is a strong testimony to the country’s support to the event and its commitment in attracting more Middle Eastern tourists to Malaysia.
As in previous years, this prestigious annual event sees the participation of a strong Malaysian delegation from 76 organizations comprising hotels and resorts, travel agents, tourism products owners, representatives from various state governments, including Langkawi Development Authority (LADA), Penang Global Tourism, Sabah Tourism Board, Sarawak Tourism Board, Tourism Melaka, Tourism Pahang, and Tourism Johor.
The mission aims to reinstate and enhance the commitment to establishing good tourism cooperation, engaging in future collaborations, and cooperation with the travel and tourism industry in the region. Honourable Khairul Firdaus said during the launch, “In line with the Visit Malaysia in 2025, Tourism Malaysia will strive to attract more tourists from the Middle East to Malaysia. We are confident that we will be able to achieve our target to put Malaysia as the top destination for Muslim travelers,”.
Throughout the event, the Malaysian delegation is scheduled to meet up with the top management of a few Middle Eastern airlines such as Qatar Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Saudia Airlines, Air Arabia, Oman Air and Salam Air to discuss future collaborations, besides having several interviews with the local media.
On the 2nd and 3rd May 2023, Honourable Khairul Firdaus will also witness the signing of two Memorandum of Collaborations (MOC) between Tourism Malaysia and Saudia Airlines and Tourism Malaysia with Air Arabia. These MOC will benefit the Malaysian economy and strengthen economic ties through the tourism industry between Malaysia and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. Following that, Honourable Khairul Firdaus will be hosting a ‘Malaysia Nite Gala Dinner’ on 2nd May 2023 to thank the tourism fraternity in Dubai and the local media for their support and assistance in promoting Malaysia.
Since its full reopening of international borders, Malaysia has recorded a total of 10,070,964 (10.07 million) tourist arrivals and RM28.2 billion (AED 23.5 billion) in tourist receipts in 2022, surpassing its initial target of 9.2 million international tourist arrivals. In 2023, Malaysia is targeting to welcome 16.1 million international tourist arrivals (300,000 tourists from the West Asia) and generate RM49.2 billion (AED 41.1 billion) in tourist receipts.
In 2022, Malaysia recorded 88,534 tourist arrivals from the Middle East.
