Tourism Malaysia Wooing More Travellers From Singapore

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah SINGAPORE, Sept 8 (Bernama) -- Tourism Malaysia is intensifying efforts through joint promotions and tactical campaigns to woo more travellers from Singapore following a drop in the arrivals in the first quarter of 2015. "We need to carry out various initiatives, including through joint promotions and tactical campaigns, to drive growth from Singapore for the remaining months of the year," Malaysia's Tourism and Culture Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz told reporters here Tuesday. Singapore's tourist arrivals into Malaysia last year was 13.9 million, a growth of 5.7 percent, but the figures for first three months of 2015 dropped 8.6 per cent drop. Nazri, who is on a working visit to met Singapore's top travel agents and the media here, was accompanied by Malaysian High Commissioner to Singapore Husni Zai Yaacob, Tourism Malaysia (TM) Chairman Wee Choo Keong and TM director for Singapore Noor Aine Ismail. Speaking at a luncheon with Singapore trade and media representatives here, Mohammed Nazri outlined Tourism Malaysia's efforts to boost arrivals from Singapore, including forging ties at the Travel Malaysia Fair 2015. He said Tourism Malaysia would collaborate with Malindo Air, hold a Durian Fiesta initiative, develop special diving packages, and promote Malaysia as a music and entertainment hub. On the latest offering from Malaysia, he said KTM Bhd, the main rail operator in peninsular Malaysia, would introduce a daily train shuttle service between JB Sentral (in Johor Baharu of Malaysia's southern state, Johor) and Woodlands (Singapore). "The train service, which operates seven times a day from Singapore to Malaysia, offers Singaporean tourists more travel options to Malaysia. "This service provides great convenience to Singaporean tourists, and complements the existing connectivity that our two destinations currently enjoy besides 489 flight frequencies per week with 73,314 seating capacity. "With all these efforts and new developments in place, along with your assistance and strong support, I am confident that we will be able to achieve our target arrivals from Singapore this year," he said. Nazri said the visit was also aimed at strengthening Malaysia's presence in Singapore and building a stronger relationship with travel agents and the media. He urged local travel agents to work closer with their Malaysian counterparts to develop more creative and innovative holiday packages to Malaysia. Nazri last left for Batam town to meet travel agents and the media there. --BERNAMA