A 36 member delegation from Malaysia (sellers from 22 organisations) will be promoting Malaysia in Jordan and Syria from 9 to 13 May 2009 as the post Arabian Travel Mart road show.

The Malaysian delegation led by the honourable Dato’ Sri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Malaysia will include representatives from both the government and private sector. The delegation breakdown consists of 10 hotels and 12 travel & tour operators.

The road show acts as an ideal platform for Malaysian sellers to network and form strategic alliances with buyers from the Gulf region. This year, Malaysia is focusing on the niche products, such as Home Stay, Eco-tourism, Malaysia My second Home, Medical and Health tourism.

A media conference on the tourism development in Malaysia followed by a gala dinner will be held on 10th May 2009 at the the Le Royal Hotel in Amman, Jordan (7.30 PM). and on 12 May at Four Seasons Hotel in Damascus (7.30 PM)

Backgrounder:

1. Malaysia recorded 22.05 million visitors last year against RM49.56bn ($13.76bn) in receipts. This is a 5.1% growth in arrivals compared to the previous year (2008).

2. The Malaysian tourism industry remains robust based on the buoyant tourist arrivals that Malaysia enjoyed from January to Feb 2009 which registered a total of 3.48 million arrivals. During that period, tourist arrivals from West Asia stood at 37,639 visitors.

3. Last year (2008), the West Asian market registered 264,338 visitors with a growth of 7.8% compared to 2007.

4. The promotion in West Asia is based on travel packages coupled with the high standard quality services and products. Key segments promoted in West Asia market includes leisure holidays such as beaches and islands, shopping, dining, eco-tourism and MICE packages. The special interest promotions are; education tourism, medical & health tourism, honeymoon, spa and Malaysia My Second Home.

5. In the context of medical and health tourism, Malaysia is among the popular destinations for health tourists from West Asia. It is fast emerging as a value-for-money destination with world-class health and state-of-the-art medical facilities as Malaysia has over 200 international standard hospital and clinics.

6. Similarly, the good exchange rate has attributed to the growth in education tourism, thus making Malaysia a centre of research and educational excellence. Twinning programs with foreign universities have made it affordable for students from West Asia to pursue their tertiary education in Malaysia.

Source: http://blog.promotevest.com/?p=410

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