ID :
479714
Mon, 02/05/2018 - 08:57
Auther :

Delhi Diary: Promoting Destination Malaysia In South Asia

Bernama's correspondent Shakir Husain shares his take from the Indian capital of New Delhi. NEW DELHI, Feb 5 (Bernama) -- Senior Tourism Malaysia officials recently participated in a major travel industry fair in India. There is an important target Malaysia has set for itself: at least one million tourists per year from India. Tourism Malaysia Chairman Dr Siew Ka Wei hopes this can be achieved in 2020. Looking at the growth prospects in India's outbound travel sector, this is an achievable number provided India's economy, Asia's third largest, continues to gain momentum. Last year's tourism arrival figures from India are not bad, but there is a dip that clearly shows that there is no room for laxity in destination marketing efforts. Malaysia as a safe, affordable and pleasant destination is well-established among Indian travellers. The country is often part of regional packages for family and group travellers. Malaysia received 638,578 Indian tourists in 2016 and the figure for the January-October period in 2017 is 449,559. One major reason that may have caused the drop in arrivals from India compared with 2105, when 722,141 arrivals were recorded, is unrelated to Malaysia's appeal as a tourist destination. The Indian economy experienced an upheaval in November 2016 after the government decided to withdraw two high-value currency notes in what it called a campaign against "black money", or untaxed wealth. The intention was to strike a blow against those hoarding unaccounted cash outside the banking system. The dramatic move had unintended consequences as people, among them a large number of professionals and businessmen, stood wasting their time in long queues at banks to change their old notes for new currency. Tourism was among the sectors hard hit by the so-called demonetisation that overnight took out about 86 per cent value of the currency in circulation. Lavish Indian weddings were drastically curtailed and discretionary spending on travel was delayed. The impact lasted for about a year. The closure of the theme parks in Genting for redevelopment and renovation may have also affected family tourism from India. People in the holiday trade are upbeat that travel from India to Malaysia would pick up strongly this year. A six-month promotion campaign is under way in India to woo summer travellers. There is, however, a need to look at India in the wider South Asian context in terms of deploying time and resources for marketing. As a single market, India is the largest in terms of its outbound travel sector, but other countries -- Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka deserve due attention as well. According to the Future of Outbound Travel in Asia Pacific report by Mastercard, India with a population size of 1.3 billion would account for 21.5 million outbound trips in 2021. To put things into perspective, Malaysia with a population of 32 million is projected to have 14.2 million trips (ahead of Australia's 11.8 million trips) in the same year. China tops the list with 103.4 million outbound trips in 2021, followed by 25.6 million from South Korea. A serious national income gap is evident when the segment of population that can afford foreign travel from India is looked at. Similar gaps in wealth and aspirations can be found in Pakistan, which has a population of 200 million, and Bangladesh's 163 million people. According to Euromonitor International's statistics, the size of Pakistan's outbound travel market is 4.8 million. What works for Malaysia in the Indian travel market might very well work in the wider South Asian region. -- BERNAMA

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