Tourism Malaysia strengthens ties with Laos to boost arrivals

The tourism seminar in Laos is part of Tourism Malaysia's efforts to promote Visit Malaysia 2020. - Bernama

VIENTIANE (Vientiane Times/ANN): In a bid to intensify promotions to the Asean market, Tourism Malaysia on Wednesday (March 4) launched the “Malaysia Tourism Seminar and B2B Session” as part of the Malaysia Golden Month Holiday Campaign to promote Malaysia, at the Landmark Hotel in Vientiane.

Tourism Malaysia led the delegation comprising AirAsia, product owners namely Vouk Hotel Management, Sunway Lost World and Sunway Lagoon; as well as travel agencies from Columbia Leisure and Asia Delights to represent the Malaysian tourism industry.

More than 100 local delegates from travel agents, associations and members of the media from Vientiane showed support and attended the session.

Also attending the event were Malaysian Ambassador to Laos, Mohd Aini Bin Atan, director of the International Promotion Division (Asean) of Tourism Malaysia, Noran Ujang, and representatives of travel agencies.

Noran welcomed guests at the launch event and personally thanked the travel agents and media for their dedicated efforts and constant support in promoting Malaysia in Laos.

“I am pleased to see the support from the Vientiane industry players and hope that this will further strengthen the ties between Laos and Malaysia, especially amid the Covid-19 outbreak which threatens the global tourism industry, ” he said.

As part of the quick win strategy, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and Tourism Malaysia had identified Asean countries as the key market to reduce losses due to the debilitating effects of Covid-19 on the tourism industry.

The event served as a platform for networking and collaboration especially for package development and promotional efforts in conjunction with the Visit Malaysia 2020 (VM2020) campaign.

Aside from boosting arrivals from Laos, the programme was also initiated to strengthen cooperation between Laos and Malaysia, as both countries have a long-standing relationship as close Asean countries.

From January to September 2019, Malaysia received 20,959 tourists from Laos, reflecting a significant increase of 13.8 per cent compared to the same period in 2018. Malaysia hopes to welcome a total of 30 million tourist arrivals, and RM100 billion in tourist receipts for VM2020. - Vientiane Times/Asia News Network