Indian travellers put a shine on Malaysia's summer season

Malaysian inbound operators strong in the Indian inbound market have reported an increase in bookings for summer, the peak travel period for Indians.


Arokia Das, senior manager, Luxury Tours Malaysia, said he has seen a more than 30 per cent year-on-year increase in business. Travellers were mainly from Mumbai, New Delhi and Ahmedabad.

“A lot of them are travelling from India via Singapore, where there is better connectivity and cheaper airfares,” he observed. “The travelling crowd is also getting younger. Until a few years ago, travellers were mainly those in their 40s and above, but now we see a lot of Indian travellers in their 30s to 50s.”

Meanwhile, Kuna Seelan Velayutham, managing director of Hibiscus Travel & Tours, said there were more travellers originating from South India. He had also received more requests for Kota Kinabalu this year, mostly from FITs.

Tina Travel & Agencies’ managing director, Adam Kamal, agreed. “We’ve seen a 10 per cent year-on-year increase (in bookings), but it is still too early to tell how this season will fare as many travellers tend to book last minute.”

He said: “There was some concern from our partners on whether there would likely be disturbance during the general election on May 5. We reassured them that based on general elections in the past, it would be peaceful.”
-TTG Asia.