Tourism Malaysia bats for more air capacity in India

30 million in mind: Datuk Musa HJ. Yusof, Director General, Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board at a foreign media press meet in Kuala Lumpur.
Tourism Malaysia is expecting that expansion of bilateral cooperation in the aviation sector will further provide an impetus to the growth of outbound tourism demand from the Indian market.
Presently, Malaysia based carriers have exhausted their bilateral traffic rights that allow them to operate 257 weekly flights from India. The Government of Malaysia has now applied for expansion of traffic rights with India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation. The former is also holding talks with four Indian airlines to convince them to begin operations to Malaysia.
“We on our part are ready to fund half of the marketing cost to create a demand and promote any Indian carrier willing to operate flights to Malaysia,” said Datuk Musa HJ. Yusof, Director General, Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board on the sidelines of a news conference organized in Kuala Lumpur for foreign media representatives, who are part of a mega familiarisation tour in a run-up to Visit Malaysia 2020.
Indian carriers have least utilized their bilateral traffic rights with Indigo the lone carrier operating flights from India, connecting New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai to Malaysia. However, Air Asia India and Vistara Airlines are expected to begin direct flights to Malaysia in the near future.
In the first six month of this year, Malaysia recorded 354, 486 Indian arrivals, a growth of about 15 per cent compared to the same period in 2018.
Apart from family travellers, Malaysia is witnessing a surge in the demand from the Indian MICE and wedding segments.
“We recently hosted an Indian wedding of 500 pax where 45 chefs were flown in by the host. We are engaging with key wedding planners to further boost the demand from this segment. We are also educating the Indian market on the various incentives that we offer for MICE groups,” added Yusof.
Malaysia Tourism is also making efforts to promote new destinations in India beyond popular places like Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi. It recently hosted 50 Indian travel influencers in its state of Sabah.
Visit Truly Asia Malaysia 2020 is the fifth visit Malaysia year campaign since 1990. Tourism Malaysia is targeting 30 million international tourist arrivals for Visit Malaysia 2020.