Mustafa Abdul Azim (Dubai)
Khairul Firdous Akbar Khan, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Malaysia, stressed the importance of the tourism market in the UAE as a pivotal market for Malaysian tourism in the region. Khair Al-Firdous revealed Malaysia’s interest in enhancing tourism cooperation with the UAE, and increasing the capacity of flights linking the airports of the two countries, pointing out that there are discussions with a number of national carriers, including Etihad Airways, Emirates Airlines and Air Arabia, to increase its flights to Malaysia and also serve other tourist destinations outside. The capital, Kuala Lumpur. He said that plans to recover the tourism industry in Malaysia contributed to the number of tourists this year reaching 16.1 million, compared to 10.07 million tourists in 2022.
And the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture in Malaysia expected, in press statements during his recent visit to Dubai, that next summer will witness a significant increase in tourist flows between the UAE and Malaysia, noting that Malaysia’s participation in the 30th session of the Arabian Travel Market exhibition in Dubai, which concluded its work on 4 This May, it achieved great success in promoting Malaysia as a unique travel destination, and highlighting its tourism diversity to visitors and participants in the exhibition.
He added that the importance of the region for tourism in Malaysia was reflected in its participation in a larger pavilion this year, which included about 76 companies and tourist destinations, and the presence of more than 110 specialists in the sector, pointing out that the initial indicators showed great levels of optimism about a promising tourist season, especially with the increasing demand for Reservations for the summer season and the numerous inquiries received by the exhibiting companies about tourism programs and packages.
first destination
Khair Al-Firdous said that Tourism Malaysia is striving to attract more tourists from the Middle East to Malaysia, and to make Malaysia the first destination for travelers from the region, pointing out that Malaysia received more than 88,534 tourists from the Middle East during the past year, including 51,246 from GCC countries, out of the total number of tourists estimated at 10.07 million in 2022, with revenues amounting to about 23.5 billion dirhams (28.2 billion ringgit).
He stressed that the Arabian Travel Market exhibition constituted an important opportunity to establish partnerships with airlines in the Middle East, such as Etihad Airways, Emirates Airlines, Air Arabia, Qatar Airways, Saudi Airlines, Oman Air and SalamAir, to discuss aspects of future cooperation.
He pointed out that during the exhibition, a memorandum of cooperation was signed between Tourism Malaysia and Air Arabia, as these agreements will benefit the Malaysian economy and strengthen economic ties through the tourism industry between Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, thus contributing to achieving Malaysia’s plans to receive 16.1 million international tourists. 300 thousand tourists from West Asia) during the current year 2023 and achieve 41.1 billion dirhams in tourism revenues, leading to a full recovery and return to pre-pandemic levels in 2025.
Tourism promotion
A year ago, Emirates Airlines signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Malaysian Tourism Board with the aim of promoting tourism and developing passenger traffic to Malaysia from the main markets through Emirates’ global network, and promoting it through its wide global network of routes, which covers more than 130 destinations, which contributes to the recovery of the sector. travel and tourism.
In 2016, Emirates Airlines signed a codeshare agreement with Malaysia Airlines, to offer customers seamless flights and wider choice, as well as frequent flyer benefits and a world-class travel experience around the world. The agreement connects Malaysian Airlines passengers to destinations in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas via Dubai, and Emirates Airlines passengers to destinations across Malaysia and Southeast Asia, in addition to specific destinations in Asia and the Asian Pacific region via Kuala Lumpur.
In 2019, during the pre-pandemic period, Malaysia received 397,726 tourists from the Middle East and North Africa region, as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ranked first in the Malaysian market by acquiring 121,444 tourists, or more than 30% of arrivals from the regions of West Asia and North Africa.
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