KUALA LUMPUR: As part of Tourism Malaysia's efforts to increase travelers to the country, it announced a new campaign that is to target wealthy travelers from key cities in Asia and Africa. The international marketing strategy will look to large countries with affluent residents to entice them to visit Malaysia. “Indonesia, China and India are highly populated. So we can capture a larger market base,” said Zulkifly Said, Tourism Malaysia's international marketing director for South Asia, West Asia and Africa. “Through this strategy, we hope to get more tourist arrivals and hopefully increase the length of stay and tourist receipts,” he said during his presentation at the Malaysia Master Training Pro-gramme for South and West India Travel Agents on Saturday. Zulkifly described India as an “important market” adding that the South Asian country ranked sixth in Malaysia's top 10 markets in 2010 and 2011. “We had 690,849 tourist arrivals from India in 2010 and 693,056 arrivals in 2011,” he said. From January to May this year, there were 299,478 arrivals from India compared to 277,791 over the same period last year, which was a 7.8 percent increase. Zulkifly said Tourism Malaysia had set up three overseas offices in India which reflected its seriousness in capturing the Indian market. On the training program, he said it was an initiative to bring in travel agents to explore the country's tourism products and promote Malaysia as a must-visit destination among Indians. “For the off-peak months of August to October, we are also working with MAS in a joint promotion called “Showcase Malaysia” whereby tourists in India who buy economy or business tickets will get a free night's stay in Malaysia,” he said.
