TOURISM Malaysia is on an aggressive mission to recover Chinese arrivals, striking up marketing partnerships with airlines and working with outbound operators in China to arrange for charters.
Tourism Malaysia’s deputy director-general (promotion), Azizan Noordin, said the NTO is still discussing the mechanics of a six-month advertising campaign to promote holiday packages with AirAsia and longhaul affiliate AirAsia X. The two airlines collectively fly to 12 destinations in China.
Meanwhile, Tourism Malaysia’s charter agreement with Hubei Wanda New Airlines Travel Services is bearing fruit, with a charter from Wuhan arriving in Kuala Lumpur early this morning.
The flights, which commenced on June 30, will run three times weekly up to June 29, 2015. With the projected number of 158 flights, they are expected to contribute a total of 26,386 arrivals from China and RM76.2 million (US$24 million) in tourist receipts, said Tourism Malaysia chairman, Ng Yen Yen.
According to Azizan, Tourism Malaysia is in further discussions with airlines and Chinese travel agencies to offer charter services to Kuala Lumpur and secondary destinations such as Penang, Langkawi and Kota Kinabalu.
He said: “We want to work with the market to reassure the Chinese tourist that Malaysia is safe and make it a top-of-mind destination for China.”
Part of the recovery plans, which was rolled out starting end-May, also involves intensifying promotions in China’s second- and third-tier cities, where the population is more open to holidaying in Malaysia.
In addition, the NTO will organise regular fam trips for Chinese travel consultants, the media and top CEOs and decision-makers.
Arrivals traffic from China took a drastic tumble in the wake of the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines’ flight MH370 on March 8, which was on its way to Beijing with 153 Chinese nationals on board.
Some 30,000 tourists from China cancelled or suspended their holidays up to early 2015 after the incident, and tourism arrival statistics for April 2014 show a 19.5 per cent year-on-year drop in Chinese visitors to 132,158 tourists.
