Tourism Malaysia & Partners Participate In ITB CHINA 2024

 

SHANGHAI, 27 MAY 2024 – As part of continuous promotional efforts to promote Malaysia as a preferable tourist destination to the tourism industry players in China, Tourism Malaysia’s booth has launched at the ITB China 2024 at Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center, taking place from 27 to 29 May 2024.

The Malaysian delegation is headed by the Honorable Dato Sri Tiong King Sing, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia together with Mr. Manoharan Periasamy, Director General of Tourism Malaysia. The 4th edition of ITB China 2024 is joined by important tourism partners from Penang Global Tourism, and other states which are Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang and Perak, totalling to 37 organisations which comprises 15 hotels and resorts, eight (8) tour operators, five (5) state tourism agencies, two (2) tourism associations, two (2) product owners and one (1) airline.

Commenting on the participation, Dato Sri Tiong King Sing said, “Malaysia’s participation in ITB China for this year marks our commitment and sincerity to strengthen cooperation and deepen tourism and cultural exchanges through people-to-people exchanges, especially in the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia.”

“China is one of Penang's most important markets and it has always been one of the top three arrival countries in Penang. It is crucial to keep the publicity momentum going to draw travellers to Penang, thus Penang Global Tourism has organised the ‘Experience Penang’ roadshow in Guangzhou and Shenzhen which resulted in the increase of flight frequency from China. We hope our presence in ITB China with Penang industry partners will showcase the versatility of Penang being a world-class destination,” said Mr Ooi Chok Yan, CEO of Penang Global Tourism.

Internationale Tourismus-Börse (ITB) China is one of the largest tourism trade fairs in China and is at par with the major tourism tradeshow such as ITB Berlin and ITB Asia. ITB China which is held every year is attended by National Tourism Organisations (NTOs), travel agencies, hotel operators and tourism products owners, as well as other tourism industry players from China and around the world. More than 800 potential buyers consisting of the largest travel agencies in China have been listed for this edition. This is the fourth time Malaysia has participated since the tradeshow’s inception in 2017.

China remains one of the top market sources for Malaysia and contributed 1,474,114 arrivals to the country last year compared to 212,603 Chinese tourists in 2022. Malaysia is currently targeting to receive 27.3 million international tourist arrivals with RM102.7 billion in tourism receipts, with 5 million arrivals targeted to be from the Chinese market.

Through its overseas offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, Tourism Malaysia continues to intensify promotions alongside travel agents and airlines. With the resumption and announcement of new international routes from Malaysia-based airlines and Chinabased airlines such as Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and Xiamen Air, there are currently 368 flights per week between China and Malaysia.

-Tourism Malaysia.