Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Malaysia Important Player In International Tourism

A German Tourism Expert has come in support Malaysian tourism. A leading German expert on global tourism considers Malaysia an important player in international tourism -- both for inbound and outbound traffic.

Raimund Hosch, chairman of the Messe Berlin GmbH, which organises the prestigious International Tourism Bourse (ITB) in Berlin and its Asian edition called ITB Asia in Singapore, described Malaysia as one of the three key tourism players in Southeast Asia, the other two being Singapore and Thailand.

Hosch said Malaysia and Indonesia would post "impressive growth" in inbound tourism in future.

Malaysian tourism planners could take a cue from Hosch's remarks which can enable them to devise a future strategy that takes into account these factors.

"Besides India and China which are not only attractive destinations but also providers of tourists with a growing spending capacity, we should not lose sight of important players in the Asean region such as Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore," he told BERNAMA in an exclusive interview at the ongoing ITB Fair in Berlin.

Hosch also underscored the growing importance of Chinese tourists for the Asean region. The number of Chinese travelling abroad for leisure tourism was rising. There are some 150 to 200 million Chinese whose average earnings are as high as those of West Europeans.

Malaysia, along with Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as well as Europe, will benefit from this trend.

Even the growing exports, for example, will contribute to growing tourism, particularly in the business travel segment," Hosch added.

Meanwhile, Messe Berlin, which started the ITB Asia in Singapore for an initial three years, has renewed the contract to stage the fair at the Suntech Exhibition and Convention Centre in Singapore for another three years.

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