Langkawi casts wider net

The Langkawi Development Authority (LADA) will strengthen its marketing efforts in new markets this year, which include China, India, South Korea, the Middle East and Australia.

The tourism body aims to do this through digital channels, travel tradeshows and fam trips for travel consultants, while sustaining efforts in its traditional UK and European markets.

Khalid Ramli, CEO of LADA, said: “This year we will also intensify our efforts to get more charter flights from Finland, Russia and Kazakhstan. We hope to attract at least 51 charter flights in 2013.”

Between January 2012 and end-March 2013, Langkawi will see 36 charter services to Langkawi from South Korea, Sweden, Finland, Kazakhstan and Vladivostok.

Khalid also revealed that Langkawi had recently picked up the slogan Naturally Langkawi to capture the essence of the destination, which lies in its natural attractions such as forests and 500 million-year-old rock formations.

The branding exercise will spearhead LADA’s plan to meet the targeted RM3.8 million (US$1.3 million) in tourism revenue and three million arrivals in 2015. The goal is for 2.6 million tourists this year.

Said Khalid: “By 2015, we want Langkawi to be among the top 10 island destinations in the world.”

-TTG Asia.