December 30, 2006 22:48 PM
By Tham Choy Lin
BEIJING, Dec 30 (Bernama) -- The launch of Visit Malaysia Year 2007 will see many groups of mainland China tourists and journalists making a beeline for Kuala Lumpur and other destinations, in particular, beach resorts.
A check with Tourism Malaysia offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou revealed that thousands of Chinese tourists are expected in the month of January alone.
The first flight from China touching down at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on New Year's Day will be a China Eastern carrier from Shanghai's Pudong Airport. It is scheduled to arrive at 12.30 am on Monday.
Shuhaimi Shaharuddin, Tourism Malaysia director in Guangzhou, said response from local tour operators was good following a series of promotional events and tie-ups with television stations.
"South China is traditionally the strong market for Malaysia. Several thousand tourists are estimated to travel to Malaysia in January via Guangzhou because we have 50 flights a week from here," he said.
Arrivals from Shanghai were very encouraging as well, said Wan Zawawi Mohammed, director of Tourism Malaysia there.
"In the first week of January, there will be 1,200 direct arrivals from Shanghai from one airline alone. Tour operators are also bringing in tourists directly or via other destinations. These will run into a few hundred visitors," he said.
He said tours to Langkawi and other beach resorts were a big attraction and a few groups would also attend the Floral Fest in Putrajaya on Jan 26.
Tourism Malaysia offices in the three Chinese cities have also arranged for more than a dozen television crews from Beijing and the provinces to attend the launch of VMY 2007 on Jan 6 at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa and to interesting spots in other parts of the country.
Michael Tay, Tourism Malaysia director in Beijing, has arranged for five TV crews from Beijing TV and the provinces of Shangdong, Tianjian, Hebei and Henan, and magazine writers to visit Malaysia in January.
From the south, five television crews including from Guangdong, Yunnan, Fujian and Hunan, would be coming. Yunnan TV will film five selected girls holidaying in Genting, Langkawi, Penang, Ipoh and Pangkor from Jan 6 to 13.
Tourism Malaysia in Shanghai has also secured five television broadcasters -- China Business News, Shanghai TV, Dragon TV, Nanjing TV and Hangzhou TV -- and print journalists from Chengdu and Chongqing.
China's growing affluence has made it a top market in the global tourism industry. Last year, 31 million mainlanders travelled abroad.
Source: BERNAMA
Keywords: Malaysia, Tourism Malaysia, Malaysia Tourism, Visit Malaysia Year 2007, VMY 2007, VMY'07, VMY2007
External Links:
Tourism Malaysia - http://www.tourismmalaysia.gov.my
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