JAKARTA, Aug 2 — Tourism Malaysia hopes for increased connectivity and flight capacity between Malaysia and Indonesia, to boost the tourism sector.
Its Director General Datuk Dr Ammar Abd Ghapar said the flight capacity has now increased to 86,000 seats per week this year compared to 85,000 before the pandemic.
“This connectivity cannot be increased without the support of airline companies such as Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, Firefly, Garuda, Batik Air, Citilink, Lion Air and TransNusa,” he said at the Sales Mission programme to Indonesia, here, today.
Dr Ammar who was unable to attend the event was represented by Tourism Malaysia Jakarta director Junus Suhid who read the text of his speech.
According to Dr Ammar, Indonesia remains one of the important markets for Malaysia’s tourism sector with the arrival of 1.48 million tourists last year, the second largest after Singapore.
This position continues to be consistent with the arrival of 704,147 Indonesian tourists recorded in the first quarter of this year.
Besides promoting Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H), Dr Ammar said Malaysia also promotes medical tourism to Indonesians.
More than 349,000 Indonesians have sought medical treatment and expertise in Malaysia at affordable costs in 2022.
Tourism Malaysia toured Jakarta, Medan and Balikpapan on this mission to increase the promotion of tourism products and packages as well as to hold business-to-business (B2B) sessions.
The mission was led by the Deputy Director of the International Promotion Division-ASEAN Tourism Malaysia Muhammad Zaki Talib in collaboration with the Malaysian Association of Travel and Tourism Agents (MATTA).
It was attended by the Sarawak Tourism Board, Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council, Sepang International Circuit, representatives of the MM2H company, the Malaysian Homestay Entrepreneurs Association, 15 tourism companies, three product operators, six hoteliers and Batik Air.
The programme was also attended by the Deputy Chief of Mission to Indonesia Adlan bin Mohd Shaffieq, who launched the Sepang MotoGP Campaign to promote motor sports tourism packages.
In his speech, Adlan suggested that players in the tourism industry can work together to strengthen the relationship between the people of both countries.
“The role of players in the tourism industry is not only commercial but also to further strengthen the relationship between the people of the two countries,” he said.
