DUBAI, 2 May 2023 – Tourism Malaysia’s efforts to publicize its comprehensive promotional activities continue to the Middle Eastern region. The Malaysian delegation is led by the Honourable Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts & Culture Malaysia, to participate once again in the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai from 1st to 4th May 2023 at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC).
The four-day ATM offers Malaysia as an excellent platform to market and promote the latest attractions and destinations for shopping, family fun, eco-adventure, honeymoon, luxury holidays, as well as safe travel destination. ATM 2023 also marks the 29th anniversary of Malaysia’s participation in this prestigious event, which is a strong testimony to the country’s support to the event and its commitment in attracting more Middle Eastern tourists to Malaysia.
As
in previous years, this prestigious annual event sees the participation of a
strong Malaysian delegation from 76 organizations comprising hotels and
resorts, travel agents, tourism products owners, representatives from various
state governments, including Langkawi Development Authority (LADA), Penang Global
Tourism, Sabah Tourism Board, Sarawak Tourism Board, Tourism Melaka, Tourism
Pahang, and Tourism Johor.
The mission aims to reinstate and
enhance the commitment to establishing good tourism cooperation, engaging in
future collaborations, and cooperation with the travel and tourism industry in
the region. Honourable Khairul Firdaus said during the launch, “In line with the Visit Malaysia in
2025, Tourism Malaysia will strive to attract more tourists from the Middle
East to Malaysia. We are confident that we will be able to achieve our target to
put Malaysia as the top destination for Muslim travelers,”.
Throughout
the event, the Malaysian delegation is scheduled to meet up with the top
management of a few Middle Eastern airlines such as Qatar Airways, Emirates, Etihad
Airways, Saudia Airlines, Air Arabia, Oman Air and Salam Air to discuss future
collaborations, besides having several interviews with the local media.
On
the 2nd and 3rd May 2023, Honourable Khairul Firdaus will
also witness the signing of two Memorandum of Collaborations (MOC) between Tourism
Malaysia and Saudia Airlines and Tourism Malaysia with Air Arabia. These MOC
will benefit the Malaysian economy and strengthen economic ties through the
tourism industry between Malaysia and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and United Arab
Emirates. Following that, Honourable Khairul Firdaus will be hosting a ‘Malaysia
Nite Gala Dinner’ on 2nd May 2023 to thank the tourism fraternity in
Dubai and the local media for their support and assistance in promoting
Malaysia.
Since
its full reopening of international borders, Malaysia has recorded a total of
10,070,964 (10.07 million) tourist arrivals and RM28.2 billion (AED 23.5
billion) in tourist receipts in 2022, surpassing its initial target of 9.2
million international tourist arrivals. In 2023, Malaysia is targeting to
welcome 16.1 million international tourist arrivals (300,000 tourists from the West
Asia) and generate RM49.2 billion (AED 41.1 billion) in tourist receipts.
In 2022, Malaysia recorded 88,534 tourist arrivals from the Middle East.