Malaysia and Sri Lanka looking at MoU for joint tourism promotion

Shirajiv Sirimane

PROMOTING TOURISM: Malaysia is looking at the possibility of signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Sri Lanka to jointly promote tourism in both countries.

"We want to introduce the concept of having a stop over in one country when a tourist visits another," said the visiting Malaysian Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan B. Tengku Mansor.

He said that they are currently studying the airline routes to draw up an itinerary for Western tourists to enable them to have a stop over in either of the countries. The Minister also met Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake last morning and discussed several bilateral matters related to tourism.

"The Prime Minister requested us to introduce special all inclusive packages to Sri Lankan tourists and we will follow it up," he said.

The Minister also met the members of the Travel Agents Association of Sri Lanka (TAASL) and is trying to formulate an MoU with the Malaysian Travel Agents Association (MATA) and TAASL.

The Minister said that there is a 17 percent increase of Sri Lankan tourists to Malaysia and this is very encouraging. There were 17,000 Sri Lankan arrivals to Malaysia in 2005 and this has increased to 20,200 last year. The Visa on arrival for Sri Lankans has also increased with these figures.

Over 15 million Malaysians go out every year and Sri Lanka too can eat into this market in a more aggressive manner.

One of the leading low cost airlines in Malaysia, AirAsia, is looking at operating flights to Sri Lanka. "This would also help to increase more Lankan arrivals," he said.

In August 2003, Air Asia became the first airline in the world to introduce SMS bookings where guests can now book their seats, check flight schedules and obtain latest updates on AirAsia promotions from the convenience of their mobile phones.

AirAsia also recently introduced GO Holiday, the airline's online program where guests can book holiday packages online in real time. To date the AirAsia group, has carried over 23 million guests.

The airline is looking at operating direct flights to Sri Lanka as they see a growing demand from Sri Lankans to Malaysia," the Minister said. The two countries would be also celebrating 50 years of diplomatic ties this year.

He said that he was happy with the recovery Sri Lanka is trying to make in tourism and said that the new Minister Milinda Moragoda and Deputy Minister Faisz Mustafa are very aggressive in promoting the country. "We also discussed to work together against Western travel advisories," the Minister said.

He said that Malaysia had 17.5 million arrivals last year and this year they are targeting 20 million visitors.

"We have launched several of promotions including 'Visit Malaysia' to woo more tourists in this year where the country celebrates 50 years of independence," he said. For the first time Malaysia would be exhibiting a spaceship in June and visitors would be able to be in this six storied ship and get a first-hand experience of space travel.

"They would get the opportunity to eat space food and witness space technology," he said.

Malaysia would also actively promote education for overseas students and would be offering a special 10 year multiple visa for parents whose students are studying in Malaysia.