MALAYSIAN HOTELS IN EUROPE TO PROMOTE MALAYSIA

Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board or Tourism Malaysia is mobilising representatives of Malaysian hotels operating in Europe to promote Malaysia as an attractive destination. Last week, Tourism Malaysia organised a successful meeting with 16 representatives of Malaysian hotels in Europe.

Syed Yahya Syed Othman, Director of Tourism Malaysia in Frankfurt, told Bernama that he was "extremely pleased" with the response from the representatives.


"We will organise roadshows in Germany this October. Most of the hotel representatives are in Germany, the biggest source of tourism traffic in continental Europe, though there were also others from other European countries. I am going to organise a meeting for the hotel representatives with tour operators," Syed Yahya added.

Tourism Malaysia has also invited representatives to partner hotels to organise familiarisation tours for journalists to participate in the International Press Treasure Hunt in Malaysia. Syed Yahya also said his office was launching a three-month "tactical campaign" in conjunction with Singapore Airlines in Switzerland.

"This will also attract Swiss tourists to visit Malaysia via Singapore," he said adding that in September, a similar campaign would be held in Germany with the collaboration of Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines," he added.


Another trend in the tourism field is the growing number of tourists interested in camping and caravan tourism, a trend that could benefit Malaysia if it uses this trend to its advantage by offering similar facilities and effectively highlighting them in major foreign markets. Oliver Waidelich, Managing Director, German Association for the Caravanning Industry, said:"CMT was an attractive showcase for the industry, which created desire for mobile leisure time and holidays with its displays.

Both suppliers and exhibitors of accessories and camp sites are delighted with the high standard of visitors," he added.

Syed Yahya said Malaysia would organise a big gala dinner for the tourism trade, accompanied by entertainment to be provided by a dance troupe from Malaysia and Malaysian culinary specialties that will be prepared by Malaysian chefs. "We will also organise a travel mart which will bring Malaysian tour operators and hoteliers together with their counterparts from Germany and neighbouring European countries," he said, emphasising that this was the most important consumer tourism show in Europe.

He also said the show afforded good opportunities for Malaysian tour operators, hoteliers and others to showcase their services at a venue that would attract a wide spectrum of buyers from the travel and tourism field.