Tourism Malaysia's MegaMeet Sets to Boost Foreign Arrivals

March 30, 2015

Tourism Malaysia’s MegaMeet Sets to Boost Foreign Arrivals

Kuala Lumpur, 30 March 2015 – In line with Malaysia Year of Festivals 2015 celebration, Tourism Malaysia is organising the inaugural Malaysia MegaMeet as part of its continuous efforts to make the country a top-of-mind destination.

A total of 119 tour operators, 20 media and four airline representatives from Americas, Europe, Oceania, ASEAN, North and East Asia, West Asia and Africa participated in the programme from 29 March until 4 April 2015. The Malaysia MegaMeet comprises a travel seminar, travel mart, product updates and post-tour.

This special business-to-business (B2B) networking programme opened today at Istana Hotel Kuala Lumpur by Tourism Malaysia’s Director-General Dato’ Mirza Mohammad Taiyab. Participants obtained updates on the country’s tourism performance and development to enable them to sell and promote the country better to their clients and audience.

Representatives from Kuala Lumpur City Hall Tourism Division (VisitKL) and Genting Berhad’s 20th Century Fox Theme Park also took shared their upcoming products and attractions with the participants.

Besides showcasing the country’s fascinating tourism offerings, the Malaysia MegaMeet programme aims to provide a platform for the participants to meet, network and establish business opportunities and cooperation with the Malaysian tour operators through a travel mart.

“The assistance of foreign media and tour operators is vital to our success in boosting the country’s arrivals and receipts, and meet our annual target. It is even more important this year as we are celebrating the Malaysia Year of Festivals or MyFest 2015,” explained Dato’ Mirza.

“We hope the tours will motivate the media to promote destinations in Malaysia through their interesting articles. As for the tour operators, we hope they’ll get a better idea on what and how to package Malaysia, then create more exciting and creative tour packages to the country,” he added.

While the tour operators attended the travel mart, members of the media experienced the food trail organised by VisitKL and visited Avenue K and Suria KLCC.

The participants will also be visiting the Malaysia Handicraft Complex at Jalan Conlay on 31 March 2015, besides enjoying the musical Mud: Our Story of Kuala Lumpur at Panggung Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur. They will then be feted with MegaMeet Dinner Reception at Perdana Botanical Garden at the Lake Gardens, hosted by the Minister of Tourism and Culture Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri Tan Sri Abdul Aziz.

From 1 to 3 April 2015, the participants will depart for their respective post-tours to either Penang and Kedah; Royal Belum and Ipoh; Johor and Melaka; Mulu National Park; or Kota Kinabalu.

In 2014, Malaysia received 27.4 million tourist arrivals, signifying a growth of 6.7% compared to 25.7 million arrivals in 2013. During the same period, tourist receipts have also increased by 10% to RM72 billion from RM65.4 billion. The Malaysia MegaMeet is Tourism Malaysia’s effort to boost the country’s tourist arrivals and receipts further to help achieve this year’s target of 29.4 million arrivals and RM89 billion receipts.