Malaysia to be a shopping haven during VMY 2014

PETALING JAYA: Foreign and local tourists can expect a more exciting shopping experience during Visit Malaysia Year 2014.

Malaysia Shopping Mall Associations president HC Chan said getting foreign retailers to rent mall spaces and bringing in new brands would be among efforts made to draw in more shoppers next year. “We are looking at ways on how to sell our shopping experience more effectively outside of Malaysia,” he said at a press conference at the Council of Centres Conference 2013 Thursday.

Chan said the association, in collaboration with the Tourism and Culture Ministry, were making efforts to draw in more tourists next year by making the shopping experience more exciting. “Our members will be finding more common interests to work on and collaborate with the Ministry,” he said.

Chan said they would be targeting the Asian tourists as they contributed up to 85% of shopping sales here. He also said that they would work with the Ministry to promote 20 to 40 malls where tourists were likely to go for the three annual sales periods, adding that the shopping industry would likely have it good in 2014.

Kuala Lumpur Pavillion Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Joyce Yap said among the new brands that shoppers could look forward to next year would be Hamley’s, MCM, Tory Burch, Liujo and Halston Heritage.

Yap, who is also the Association for Shopping and High Rise Complex Management advisor, said to compete globally for shopping sales, shopping mall management have to enhance sales by making their malls attractive with varied retailers and brands as well as keeping the cost of managing malls low.

Ministry shopping secretariat head Ramzi Abu Yazid said they would work with the industry to get Malaysians who often shop overseas to shop locally instead.

At the event, secretary-general Datuk Dr Ong Hong Peng, read out Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz's speech, saying shopping constituted 30.7% of tourist receipts totalling RM60.6bil last year. He said it was the second largest expenditure after accommodation, with shopping malls raking in RM18.6bil in revenue in 2012.
-thestar online.