Malaysia will embark on a tourism marketing blitz under the Visit Malaysia 2026 (VM 2026) campaign, with creating demand, increasing traffic, and prioritising target markets forming the strategic cores. The campaign aims to attract 35.6 million tourists and generate RM147.1 billion (US$30.8 billion) in receipts.
In detailing the VM 2026 roadmap last week, Tourism Malaysia said key initiatives would include branding and marketing blitz, strategic partnerships for joint promotions/tactical campaigns, and market segmentation.
Tourism Malaysia will carry out aggressive advertising campaigns, influencer marketing, and compelling content creation across digital (70 per cent) and traditional (30 per cent) media platforms. It will also establish strategic partnerships with airlines, OTAs, and land/sea border operators of neighbouring countries to enhance tourist arrivals.
Key target markets are prioritised into three tiers, led by first-level priorities such as China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Australia. The second-level priorities include South Korea, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, and the UK, followed by third-level priorities comprising Chinese Taipei and Germany.
Attention will also be paid to emerging markets like Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, tourism products and travel experiences will be tailored for niche segments, such as nature-based tourism, experiential tourism, medical and wellness tourism, responsible tourism, luxury, weddings, Muslim-friendly, gastronomy, and bleisure travel.
Tiong King Sing, minister of tourism, arts and culture, said: “Our multi-pronged VM 2026 strategy provides a comprehensive framework to boost Malaysia’s visibility, enhance destination accessibility and elevate our tourism offerings. Through focused efforts and strategic collaborations, we are confident of achieving our yearly arrivals and target receipts in the run-up to VM 2026.”
Tiong added that the NTO would continue to engage industry stakeholders and international partners to refine and execute the VM 2026 strategies, positioning Malaysia as a preferred tourist destination in this region. Indeed, a meeting between Tourism Malaysia and industry players on April 30 has led to the creation of strategic plans to promote the destination among international and domestic markets, in support of VM 2026.
Malaysia’s notable tourism achievements for 1Q2024 are promising. From January to March, Malaysia welcomed 5.8 million arrivals, up 32.5 per cent over the same period in 2023. The top ten markets were Singapore, Indonesia, China, Thailand, Brunei, India, South Korea, the UK, Australia, and the Philippines.
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She has over 19 years of experience as a director of sales and marketing, and was part of the team to relaunch and rebrand the renovated Mandarin Oriental Singapore.
The Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) is stepping up efforts to expand gastronomy tourism in a bid to combat overtourism, cater to the high-end market and boost inbound tourism consumption in rural areas.
JTA will provide financial subsidies in fiscal 2024 (April 2024 to March 2025) for the development and promotion of programmes focusing on regional culinary cultures.
The Japanese government considers food and drink an industry with high potential for growth given that inbound visitors spent 1.2 trillion yen (US$7.8 billion), on food and drink in 2023, equating to almost one quarter of their total consumption, according to JTA.
Support includes up to 50 million yen per successful applicant to cover the establishment of bases for collecting ingredients, such as wild plants, and for carrying out local cultural experiences. Advertising, meanwhile, can be carried out overseas, such as on travel websites.
As part of the plan, luxury packages that combine culinary and cultural experiences will also be developed to expand options for “high-value travellers,” categorised by the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) as those who spend one million yen or more per visit to Japan.
Among the regions that could benefit from the subsidies is Nara Prefecture, which trialled six gastronomy tours from October 2023 to January 2024 with support from JTA as part of a project designed to attract 51 million tourists annually by 2025. The tours introduce Nara as the heartland of sake and matcha, as well as the prefecture that produces the most persimmons.
“The bounty of the nation’s mountains, valleys, rivers and seas differs from region to region, giving tourists myriad opportunities to get to the heart of Japan through their stomachs,” said a JNTO representative. “That’s the essence of gastronomy tourism, a form of travel focused on food nurtured by local ingredients, customs and traditions.”