Over 400 India tourism players at Malaysia Travel Mart

KUCHING, Sept 22 (Bernama) -- More than 400 buyers from India participated in the Malaysia Travel Mart held in conjunction with the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) Convention 2022, organised by Tourism Malaysia, here.

Tourism Malaysia deputy chairman, Datuk Seri Dr Anil Jeet Singh Sandhu said the initiative held in a Business-to-Business (B2B) format, was a way for the country’s industry players to meet their Indian counterparts to network and strengthen tourism relations.

“Besides that, it is a way to promote our latest tourism products and packages. More than 100 sellers from Malaysia participated in this programme.

“We hope these initiatives will help boost Indian tourist arrivals and indirectly benefit both countries’ tourism industry and the nation’s economy,” he said in his speech when officiating at the Malaysia Travel Mart, held at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching today. 

He said TAFI, with a membership of more than 1,400 travel agents involving 70 per cent outbound travel, is one of India’s premier travel trade associations.

With the theme, “Build Back Better”, the event from Sept 20 to 23, is the third TAFI convention held in Malaysia. In the past, TAFI had held a convention in Kuala Lumpur (1999) and Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (2007).

“Sarawak has been chosen as the event venue this time as it is relatively one of the unexplored destinations for Indian travellers such as destination weddings, family travel and corporate events,” said Anil.

According to Tourism Malaysia, in 2019, the Indian market contributed 735,309 arrivals or 22 per cent to the country. 

Meanwhile, during a press conference, Anil said he hoped the number of Indian arrivals would be doubled this year.

“Currently, India ranks number four for its number of travellers to Malaysia. Hopefully, we can increase it to between 40 and 50 per cent, so that is why collaboration with Tourism Malaysia, the Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) and state government are needed to make this happen,” he added. 

Also present were STB chief executive officer, Sharzede Salleh Askor; TAFI vice president, Kamal Jadhwani; Malaysia Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) president, Datuk Tan Kok Liang and Tourism Malaysia Corporate Communication Division director, Zakaria Nani.

-- BERNAMA