Tourism Malaysia redirects focus to stable markets like ASEAN and Europe to offset visitor losses from the West Asia conflict, ensuring VM2026 targets remain on track.
KUALA LUMPUR: Tourism Malaysia has shifted its tourism promotion focus to more stable markets, including ASEAN, East Asia, South Asia, Europe, North Africa, and Oceania, as a proactive measure to mitigate the impact of the conflict in West Asia on the country’s tourism industry.
Deputy Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Chiew Choon Man said the move was aimed at ensuring that the targets for Visit Malaysia 2026 (VM2026) remain on track despite geopolitical uncertainties in West Asia.
He said the effectiveness of the strategy is reflected in current performance, with visitor arrivals from the Asia-Pacific region rising 35% to 15.2 million between January and May this year.
“This increase will help offset some of the loss of visitors from affected markets, particularly West Asia, while also having the potential to boost visitors’ length of stay and spending in Malaysia,” he said during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He said this in his reply to a supplementary question from Dr Ahmad Fakhruddin Fakhrurazi (PN-Kuala Kedah) on Tourism Malaysia’s contingency plans to redirect its promotional efforts to alternative markets following the conflict in West Asia.
Chiew said that, in addition to focusing on major cities in its target markets, Tourism Malaysia is also expanding its promotional efforts to second- and third-tier cities to attract more international visitors to Malaysia.
At the same time, he said the ministry continues to strengthen domestic tourism, which remains the backbone of the country’s tourism industry, through various initiatives.
“As part of efforts to sustain the momentum of domestic tourism, Tourism Malaysia is implementing initiatives under the Jom Cuti-Cuti Malaysia campaign.
“The campaign aims to encourage Malaysians to continue travelling within the country by offering affordable and quality tourism packages, accommodation and travel experiences,” he said.
Chiew said the initiative is being carried out in collaboration with industry players, including tourism product operators, hotels and airlines, among them the Doce Group hotel network, involving 13 hotels, as well as a joint campaign with Batik Air for the June-July period this year.
