by Swaati Chaudhury, Kolkata
There is a growing passion for travel among Indians and the younger generation is setting the course for lands unknown. With visa-free entry on offer for Indian travellers heading to Malaysia, there’s something to cheer about. In a move to bolster its promotional strategies and to introduce Borneo Island among the footloose travellers, Tourism Malaysia hosted a five-city Sales Mission themed The Soul of Malaysia across the Indian metros including Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and New Delhi.
Mr. Akmal Aziz, Deputy Director, of Tourism Malaysia informed, “We have come up with visa-free entry for prospective Indian travellers starting from December 2023 to December 2024. Those travelling to Malaysia will have to fill up the Malaysia Digital Arrival Card (MDAC) at least three days before departure. Once the card is filled up, travellers can stay in Malaysia for 15 days. The launch of visa-free entry will ease the travel hassle of MICE tourists. There are 181 regular flights from Pan-India to Malaysia.” He was interacting with the media at Tourism Malaysia Sales Mission in Kolkata on February 16, this year.
Mr Aziz said, “We are working on Borneo Island and boosting destinations like Sabah with aquamarine beaches and Sarawak. Our potential global tourist markets are China, India, ASEAN countries, Korea and Japan. India is our topmost priority market and an increasing number of Indian travellers are exploring new destinations. We receive the most number of global tourists from Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Brunei. We have organized a golf tournament in Kuala Lumpur in the New Year. We are stressing our niche products that include soft adventure activities like kayaking, scuba diving, rafting and hiking – best known as lung wash tourism.”
Around 5,87,000 Indian travellers toured Malaysia till November, last year. “We are expecting to receive about 1 million Indian tourists in the current year. The number of global tourist arrivals stood at 17.8 lakh last year. The growth in Indian tourist arrivals has been 109 per cent last year,” further said Aziz.
The emerging MICE destinations are Penang, Kota Kinabalu, Sarawak and Kutching. Mohammad Isa Abdul Halim, Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau said, “There were around 70,000 Indian MICE travellers visiting Malaysia last year. Indian MICE travel is all set to witness a 15 per cent rise in the current period.”
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