MALAYSIA has overtaken neighbouring Singapore as Japan’s second largest South-east Asian source market since visa exemptions were introduced for its nationals in July last year (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 14, 2013).
Arrivals from Malaysian climbed 62.5 per cent during January to July this year as compared to 2013, or 132,400 visitors over 2013’s 81,452.
Though the country jolted Singapore out of second place, Thailand, which also saw visa requirements waived last year, is holding steady in first place. Japan welcomed 373,500 Thai travellers between January and July, while Singapore recorded 110,900 arrivals.
Susan Ong, deputy director Singapore Office, Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), said the NTO expects between 50 and 60 per cent year-on-year growth in the Malaysian market for the rest of 2014.
JNTO is working closer with the Malaysian travel trade and has boosted its marketing fund by some 20 per cent over 2013 for joint activities with airlines and outbound travel consultants.
She added: “We are also encouraging travel consultants to sell incentives beyond Tokyo and Osaka. We are promoting new destinations to the Malaysian market such as Kobe, Okinawa and Sapporo through incentive seminars for the travel trade as well as fam trips for travel consultants.”
JNTO Singapore is hosting a 25-strong delegation of travel consultants from Malaysia for this year’s Visit Japan Travel Mart in Tokyo from September 24 to October 1.
Said Ong: “This will be an opportunity for participating travel consultants from Malaysia to network and familiarise themselves with new destinations in Japan.”
Coming up next month is a B2B trade session in Kuala Lumpur with a large delegation of suppliers from Japan, in conjunction with MATTA Fair in Kuala Lumpur.
Japan is set to occupy the largest booth space under the NTO category for the MATTA Fair, with 150 delegates comprising Japanese government offices, hotel and theme park operators, rail transportation networks, premium outlet malls, and stakeholders.
