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| Malaysia expects 650,000 visitors from India in 2010 |
| BS Reporter / Mumbai/ Ahmedabad Mar 05, 2010, 00:48 IST |
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Following a 7.1 per cent growth in revenues from Indian tourists in 2009, Malaysia expects 650,000 visitors from India this year.
"We grew from 132,127 visitors from India in 2000 to 550,738 in 2008 and over 589,838 in 2009, which is an annual growth rate of 25 per cent each year for a decade. Tourism Malaysia has a set a target of 650,000 visitors from India in 2010. This represents a growth of 10 per cent over 2009. The focus also includes increasing room nights. Besides, the tourists' receipts have increased from 1496.1 Ringgit Malaysia (RM) million in 2008 to 1601.8 RM million in 2009. We expect an increased growth this year," Dato' Mirza Mohammad Taiyab Beg, Director General of Malaysia Tourism said at a press conference in Ahmedabad today.
The total number of global visitors to Malaysia was 22,052,488 tourists in 2008 as compared to 23,646,191 tourists in 2009, with tourism reciepts of 49561.2 RM million in 2008 to 53362.7 RM million in 2009. However, the year-on-year growth in tourist arrival from India was 30.4 per cent in 2008 as compared to 7.1 per cent in 2009.
India is one of the top five ranked markets for Malaysia and is just below China in the non surface markets category.
According to Dato' Mirza, the profile of tourists from India too has been changing rapidly with almost 50 per cent tourists being in the age group 25 to 34. "From the initial family holiday for two nights to Kuala Lumpur, the destination has grown to 6.6 room nights average stay per person in 2009. This means Malaysia has graduated from being just a shopping stop that is part of a package tour to being a multi-location destination. In addition, over 25 per cent of the tourists from India to Malaysia are repeat visitors. Almost 50 per cent of Indians visiting Malaysia are between the age group 25 to 34. These travelers are conscious of a budget, but have an agenda. The Indian outbound tourists especially youngsters are evolving. Besides, we provide an ideal shopping destination, a vibrant night life and there is lots for adventure tourism, ecological tourism, etc which caters to the youth. We have a number of tourists who visit Malaysia as a part of their honeymoon travel. Especially the exotic beaches like Redang, Langkawi, Penang, Cameroon Highlands, etc are a perfect honeymoon destination,," Dato' Mirza added.
Malaysian Tourism expects a year-on-year growth of 15-20 per cent for the next five years. "With the advent of Air Asia as a carrier from select cities (Kolkatta, Cochin, Trichy and Trivandrum at present, and with plans to commence Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore in the near future), and Malaysian Airlines flying a daily service from five cities, we expect a growth of 15 to 20 per cent," Dato' Mirza said.
Keeping the Indian tourist in mind, Tourism Malaysia has developed an integrated plan to showcase newer locations like Kuching, Taman Negara, Johor Baru, Cameroon Highlands, Kota Kinabalu, Kelantan, Terengganu, Redang, Pahang, Perak, and Malacca.
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