Tourism Malaysia organised a roadshow in Doha, highlighting Qatar as an important market for Malaysia’s booming tourism industry. Held in partnership with Qatar Airways, the travel trade event was organised on Sunday at Westin Doha Hotel and Spa to further strengthen Malaysia’s appeal as destination for travellers in Qatar.
Speaking at the event, Mohamad Shahir Sabarudin, Charge d’Affaires at the Malaysian Embassy in Qatar, underscored Qatar as an important market, saying it was selected among few countries in the region to host the roadshow.
“Qatar represents a land of opportunity for the Malaysian tourism industry, and we are delighted to organise this event in Qatar to showcase our impressive line-up of tourism offerings to the local travel trade. As a Muslim-majority country, our shared cultural ties make Malaysia one of Southeast Asia’s most visitor-friendly destinations for travellers from the Middle East. We are confident that this roadshow will further strengthen business ties and inspire more people from Qatar to discover our wonderful country,” he said.
Sabarudin underlined the strong and strategic bilateral relations between Qatar and Malaysia as shown by the frequent of exchange of high-level visits by the leaders of the two countries. He praised the wise policy of Qatar under the wise leadership of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and his efforts to bring the two countries closer.
An eight-member Tourism Malaysia delegation comprising hotels and resorts, travel agents, tourism product owners, and representatives from Langkawi Development Authority (LADA) and Penang Global Tourism (PGT) met with local industry representatives at the event with the goal of promoting Malaysia’s tourism offerings and highlighting the latest attractions ahead of the upcoming holidays seasons.
Qatar Airways, PGT, LADA and Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council presented the diverse range of exciting experiences and new tourism products available to travellers in the country.
Qatar Airways currently operates 21 flights from Doha to Kuala Lumpur, five flights from Doha to Penang and five flights from Doha to Langkawi per week. Together, the flights have the capacity to cater to more than 9,000 passengers weekly.
The roadshow also supported the objectives of the Visit Malaysia 2020 initiative, which aims to attract more than 30 million tourists and KD 7.4 billion in tourist receipts.
Also presented at the event was the Malaysia Year of Healthcare Travel 2020 campaign, which celebrates health and active lifestyle and is expected to play an important role in achieving the country’s ambitious visitor targets.
The Middle East is a key market for Malaysia, which was named the number one destination for Muslim travellers from 2011 to 2019 by Singapore-based Crescent Rating, the world’s leading authority on Halal Travel.
Total tourist arrivals from West Asia stood at 309,224 in 2019. A total of 4,089 tourists from Qatar visited Malaysia last year.
Source: The Penisular
