Malaysia Should Embark On Savvy Marketing To Court German Tourists

FRANKFURT, Dec 8 (Bernama) -- Malaysia should embark on savvy marketing and aggressively court German tourists who are among the world's high-spending tourists.

Moreover, additional flights being launched by Lufthansa to Kuala Lumpur, effective spring 2014, will only serve as a springboard for Malaysia's tourism ringgit, in lieu of its 'Visit Malaysia Year 2014'.

A German tour operator told Bernama that the 'Visit Malaysia Year 2014' could well serve as a good way to have a proper dialogue with German tour operators and the media, to enhance Malaysia's image as an attractive destination.

"Nevertheless, there is a need for aggressive marketing, accompanied by effective communication. "It's not enough to hire a PR (public relations) agency to put up billboards or do television advertising or organising an event to highlight your attractions. "The people responsible for promoting Malaysia's tourism should be good communicators and make an impact with sustained dialogue with tour operators and the public," he said.

Currently, the political unrest in Thailand has, in recent weeks, seen a sharp decline in inbound tourism traffic from Germany. Many German tourists visiting Malaysia usually combine it with other Southeast Asian destination such as Bangkok, Singapore or Bali.

Last year, Malaysia received 131,277 German tourists, according to a Tourism Malaysia press release issued in March this year, at Berlin's ITB 2013 show. Malaysia has set a target of 145,000 German tourists for this year.
-bernama.