Tourism Malaysia partners Expedia to boost int'l tourist arrivals

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 20 -- Tourism Malaysia is partnering with global travel platform Expedia Group for two key tourism collaborations in efforts to drive international tourist arrivals to Malaysia in the coming years.

Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi said the first collaboration was to promote Malaysia as an outstanding tourist destination by showcasing the country's unique wonders, attractions and cultures, as well as support tourism industry digital innovation.

In the second collaboration, both parties would embark on an Expedia Media Solutions global campaign to promote inbound travel from Australia, Japan and the United States (US) to Malaysia, he said.

The partnership will see a joint execution of destination marketing campaigns to highlight Malaysia's hidden and unique tourist attractions, as well as to promote a variety of accommodation to Expedia Group’s more than 750 million monthly visitors globally.

"Expedia Group has over 200 travel booking websites in more than 70 countries around the world and work with hundreds and thousands of lodging and flight partners to cater to the differing needs of modern travellers today.

"This timely strategic collaboration will support Malaysia’s target of achieving 30 million tourist arrivals and RM100 billion in tourist spending set for the Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign," he said at the exchange of documents for the collaborations here today.

Tourism Malaysia was represented by its director-general Datuk Musa Yusof, while Expedia Group was represented by its senior vice president, commercial strategy and services, Greg Schulze.

Mohamaddin said the collaborations, alongside with marketing and promotional activities that have been lined up, would firmly put Malaysia on the map of travellers everywhere and aspire them to experience the great diversity that the country offers.

Meanwhile, Musa said through the strategic cooperation with Expedia Group, Tourism Malaysia has targeted the arrival of 220,500 tourists from Australia, the US and Japan within six months of campaign.

-bernama.