News Roundup: This week’s focus is on Malaysia – the unveiling of the Visit Malaysia 2020 logo to mark the start of the country’s tourism campaign, and Malaysia Airlines’ partnership with TUI to launch a new travel marketplace amid news of its possible sale surfacing again.
Destination: Malaysia launches visit year campaign, eyes 30 million tourist arrivals
(Image credit: Tourism Malaysia)
It’s no longer ‘Malaysia Truly Asia’, it is now ‘Visit Truly Asia Malaysia 2020’ – the tagline in the new logo for the Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign believed to have been the brainchild of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“Before we talked about Malaysia Truly Asia, but now Visit Truly Asia Malaysia. Slightly different but still truly Malaysia,” said the PM when unveiling the new logo in Kuala Lumpur on Monday (July 22).
And so the stage is set for yet another visit year by Malaysia – its fifth edition.
The first Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) was in 1990 with the theme ‘Fascinating Malaysia. Year of Festivals’, receiving 7.4 million tourists. Then came ‘Fascinating Malaysia. Naturally More’ in 1994 with 10.22 million in tourist arrivals.
The third VMY was launched in 2007 in conjunction with Malaysia’s 50th independence anniversary and appropriately themed ‘Celebrating 50 years of Nationhood’, attracting 20.97 million tourists (tagline was ‘Malaysia Truly Asia’). 2014 saw the fourth visit year themed ‘Celebrating 1Malaysia Truly Asia’ to reflect the diversity in unity of all Malaysians, with 28 million tourists joining in the celebrations.
For 2020, the country has set its sights on 30 million visitors and RM100 billion (US$24.3 billion) in tourist receipts – some may say ambitious but the tourism ministry is confident of achieving the targets despite launching the publicity blitz with just a six-month time frame before the new year dawns.
This is because it is not just any tourism year but “a national mission”, as Dr Mahathir put, it urging all Malaysians to share the country’s “beauty and wonders” with the world and show visitors the warm hospitality, which the country is known for.
“The beauty of a place will attract but the hospitality will make people stay and return,” he said. And the 32.5 million Malaysians waving the hospitality wand may just draw in the 30 million.
However, the PM reminded that the mission must also be supported by effective promotion that is also paramount to the year’s success. “Hence, we need to connect and reach out to high yield markets, which are Malaysia’s target markets for this campaign namely ASEAN, China, India, the United Kingdom and Germany.”
The focus of the campaign is on ecotourism, arts and culture carrying the theme ‘Culture, Nature and its People’, in tandem with the National Ecotourism Plan 2016-2025 and the National Culture Policy.
The 2020 logo, the winning entry from 23-year old graphic designer Alfred Phua Hong Fook, reflects this theme as it features recognisable Malaysian icons including the hornbill, bunga raya/national flower (hibiscus), wild fern and colours of the Malaysian flag.
The logo replaced the one commissioned by the tourism ministry under the former government that was launched in Chiang Mai, Thailand, during the Asean Tourism Forum last year. It received brickbats for its amateurish design of a postage stamp featuring the Petronas Twin Towers, an orangutan hugging a proboscis monkey and a turtle donning sunglasses at the beach with the tagline ‘Travel. Enjoy. Respect.’
Meanwhile, Tourism Malaysia kickstarted the 2020 campaign in one of its key target markets – India – on the day of the logo’s unveiling. It led a delegation of 37 industry players including hotels, airlines and tour operators on a four-day mission to Amritsar, Mumbai and Hyderabad.
The NTO has also partnered with several private sector corporations like Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, Firefly and Malindo Air in marketing and promotion.
In addition, a RM5 million fund called GAMELAN Malaysia provides financial support to tourism industry players in their promotional activities to market Malaysia as a business and leisure destination.
For the first five months of this year Malaysia welcomed 10.95 million international tourists, an increase of 4.8% compared with 10.45 million in the corresponding period last year. Q1 2019 also saw revenue reached RM21.4 billion, up 16.9% from the previous quarter. Total arrivals in 2018 was 25.8 million.
Travel: Malaysia Airlines, TUI partner to simplify holiday bookings with new travel platform
Travellers can now tailor-make their holidays with the combination of flights and hotels at MHholidays, a new travel marketplace jointly launched by Malaysia Airlines and TUI Group, Europe’s largest travel and tourism company.
The integrated platform makes it easy for holidaymakers to choose from over 5,000 hotels in more than 50 destinations worldwide, in addition to enjoying “exclusive and affordable deals” from Malaysia Airlines and save up to 80% on hotel stays.
Malaysia Airlines group chief operations officer Ahmad Luqman Azmi said planning travel could be “overwhelming”. With MHholidays “travellers will find it easy to search, filter, and compare flights and hotels to find the perfect holiday package that best suit their needs.”
Users of this microsite will also earn Enrich Miles (the airline’s loyalty programme) on every flight portion, which they can use for future holidays.
MHholidays will expand beyond flights and hotels to include ground transfers, tours and more, Ahmad Luqman added.
Since its soft launch in June the marketplace has received more than 2,000 bookings. The aim is to have at least 5,000 bookings monthly by end 2019 and more beyond.
TUI Group executive board member Frank Rosenberger said with the collaboration travellers would benefit from its wide network of holiday destinations, and Malaysia Airlines could reach new customer segments and generate additional revenue.
The launch of the travel marketplace shows it is business as usual for Malaysia Airlines despite news of its possible sale surfacing again.
Bloomberg news service reported on Tuesday, a day before MHholidays launch, that Khazanah Nasional Bhd has hired US investment bank Morgan Stanley to explore strategic options for the loss-making national carrier
The Malaysian government, which owns the national carrier through sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional, is mulling what to do with the struggling airline after numerous measures introduced to improve its financial situation failed.
One option is to sell the airline as the government could not afford bailing it out (again), said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. He disclosed earlier this month the government has received four proposals from local investors to buy the airline, and is studying them.
There was no comment from Malaysia Airlines on Morgan Stanley’s appointment.
• Featured image credit (Canopy Walk at Sarawak’s Mulu National Park): Scott Biales/Getty Images
