KL tourism blitz to US, Canada
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Their first stop is New York City, followed by Toronto, Vancouver and Los Angeles “Our main objective is to inform and educate the industry about our tourism products. We also want to provide a bridge between Malaysian suppliers and the local players,”
Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor was quoted saying in The Star. “The idea is to showcase Malaysia as not just a leisure destination but to stress that we have other niches as well.”
The report said the aggressiveness of the Malaysian delegation is understandable. It said the focus now was towards
long-haul markets such as the United States, Europe and Russia.
“A lot of our tourists are from neighbouring countries like Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei. Now, we want to target markets that are further away,” Mohamad Taib was quoted saying.
Although the number of Americanvisitors to Malaysia went up by 15.2% to 174,336 last year, the figures still fell short of the targeted 180,000. Mohamad Taib acknowledged that the main stumbling block in selling Malaysia to the Americans was their perception of what a Muslim country was all about.
The images they have are kidnappings, insurgents and terrorists, the report said. “But once they visit Malaysia,
they know that nothing can be further from the truth,” the minister was quoted saying.
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