Delegation To Promote Visit Malaysia Year 2014 In North America

NEW YORK, Oct 5 (Bernama) -- A high-powered delegation from Tourism Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, led by Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, will visit the USA and Canada, beginning tomorrow.

The 10-day visit is aimed at promoting the Visit Malaysia Year 2014 and attracting tourism traffic from North America to Malaysia.

The delegation, which will visit Los Angeles (Oct 6-9), Vancouver (Oct 9-12) and New York (Oct 12-15), will include senior officials from Tourism Malaysia such as its deputy director-general, Datuk Azizan Nordin, and director for international promotion for the Americas, Datin Normasila Musa.

Ahmad Johanif Mohd Ali, the director of Tourism Malaysia's New York office, said in an interview with Bernama, that the delegation's visit would underscore the importance of the North American tourism market for Malaysia, besides highlighting the Visit Malaysia Year 2014 which would be used to attract larger tourist arrivals in the country.

"Our minister will meet the captains of the travel and tourism industry in the three cities. In special seminars organised during his visit, the minister will explain to tour operators our strategy and goals to increase tourism arrivals from the North American region, and also hear their views on the subject.

"The minister will also meet with the Malaysian community, including students, said Ahmad Johanif, adding that North America was geographically, a very big region and Malaysia offered all kinds of attraction to tourists from this region.

He also revealed that his office was going to collaborate with New York s Bronx Zoo to promote Malaysia whose scenic landscape combined with flora and fauna could exude a magnetic appeal to many Americans. The Bronx Zoo maintains a large database of zoo visitors, their families and friends who make an ideal constituency to draw tourism traffic. Tourism Malaysia s New York office plans to use the zoo s website to promote Malaysia as a destination.

While the average American business traveller frequently travels abroad for business purpose, the leisure market has a huge potential to tap.

Last year, some 240,000 visitors from the United States were clocked in Malaysia; during the first half of this year (January-June), 127,221 people from the United States visited Malaysia, a 6.4 per cent increase over the corresponding six months of the previous year.

Seminars with the participation of the local travel and tourism trade will be held in the three cities to promote the VMY2014. The Visit Malaysia Year 2014 Seminar in New York, the last leg of the visit, will be the cherry on the icing , as some tour operators are privately saying, that will cap the visit.

A special 18-member dance troupe from Kuala Lumpur will also provide colourful dances depicting the diverse Malaysian culture.

However, an interesting feature of the promotion campaign to promote the VMY 2014 will be a promotion film that will be screened four times every hour of the day, lasting for about 30 seconds each time, for a duration of 12 weeks until the end of the year; the film will highlight Malaysia s rich culture, and the adventure and nature segments of its tourism sector.

The film will be screened on a giant screen at a strategic location at New York s Times Square, just next to the NASDAQ tower, and will be viewed everyday by several thousands of New Yorkers and tourists from around the world who flock to get a glimpse of Times Square and are a common sight here.

However, the film s grand finale, as it were, will be on New Year s Eve when hundreds of thousands of visitors, both from within and outside the United States, throng to the Times Square to witness the countdown to the arrival of the New Year and the departure of the old one.

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered at Times Square will view the film about Malaysia s tourist attractions. Indeed, this will be an appropriate finale for promoting the VMY 2014, said Ahmad Johanif.
-bernama.