NE BUSINESS BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, FEB 7
Claiming that Gujarat being the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and food-loving Gujaratis are the largest Indian tourists to Malaysia, plans afoot to introduce direct air connectivity between Ahmedabad and Malaysia, said senior officials of Malaysia Tourism here on Tuesday.
With the availability of authentic Gujarati as well as Jain food and being the safest destination for tourists even at odd hours, the SouthEastern Asian country Malaysia is the perfect place for tourists of all age groups to explore its pristine nature as well as for film shootings.
They were speaking at its 5th and final roadshow in India this year, alongside with the Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents (MATTA). The roadshow started in Chennai, followed by Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and it culminated in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
Speaking with navjeevanexpress.com, Senior Deputy Director of International Promotion (Asia & Africa) Tourism Malaysia Mohd Amirul Rizal Abdul Rahim, said, “India has been one of the top sources market for Malaysia and has contributed 735,309 (+22.5%) arrivals and RM3.6 billion (+33.4%) tourism expenditure in 2019. This year we are expecting around 5 lakh tourists from India. Apart from its objective to ensure Malaysia remains to stand out on top of the minds among Indians, especially Gujaratis who are the largest visitors, the roadshow aims to provide a platform for the industry community to steer the tourism sector to greater heights.”
“The pandemic has been tremendously challenging for us, but ever since the reopening of our international border in April 2022, I am glad to let you know that we have welcomed more than 7 million international tourist arrivals in 2022. Hence, we are optimistic about achieving higher numbers in 2023 where we target to welcome 15.6 million international tourist arrivals with MYR47.6 billion in tourism receipts,” Mohd Amirul added.
Ganneesh Ramaa, Vice President of Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents (MATTA), said, “MATTA has successfully organised many sales missions to India since 2016. The organised mission had created a good working opportunities among our counterparts and at the same time promotes Malaysia. We believed that with this determination, accompanied by an effective promotional message, will improve the cross-promotional connection and create a stronger awareness of the India travel markets.”
To a query on direct air connectivity between Ahmedabad and Malaysia, Ramaa said, “In terms of connectivity, there are currently 169 flights per week from India to Malaysia via Malaysia Airlines, Batik Air (formerly known as Malindo Air), AirAsia, and IndiGo. There are many Amritsar-Kuala Lumpur flights operated by IndiGo daily via Ahmedabad and Chennai. Plans are afoot to introduce direct air connectivity between Ahmedabad and Kuala Lumpur.”
According to T Ediwanto T Eddie, Deputy Director Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, “Malaysia has recently launched a new eVISA Multiple Entry Visa (MEV) facility consists of fly & cruise, wedding, medical treatment and business visitors purposes for Indian tourists that comes with a six-month validity, a 30-day length of stay (LOS) and costs only INR1,000.00. The visa can be applied online through https://malaysiavisa.imi.gov.my/evisa/evisa.jsp.”
He added, “Tourism Malaysia is ramping up its marketing efforts globally, including raising Malaysia’s profile in the India market. We do hope this market will continue to play the important role in getting this number”.
Mumbai-based marketing manager Jane D’Cruz said, “We cater to the Maharashtra and Gujarat tour operators and tourists. We offer all kinds of special packages for tourists from Gujarat and will make their Malaysian visit a memorable one.”
