Malaysia’s Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Dato’ Sri Hajah Nancy Shukri recently hosted a high tea with nine ambassadors and high commissioners from the ASEAN countries.
In a statement from Tourism Malaysia, it was an absolute privilege for the promotion board to bring together, His Excellency Ambassadors from Cambodia, Indonesia, Her Excellency from the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, His Excellency from the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, as well as High Commissioners from Singapore and Brunei, for the very first time.
The high tea was aimed to foster a closer bilateral relationship between Malaysia and the ASEAN countries as well as to reconnect after two long years of bracing the COVID-19 pandemic.
The meet also served as an introduction and a teaser to a 3-day-2-night retreat for all ambassadors and high commissioners to explore the state of Pahang, scheduled in August 2022.
During the recent ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) that was held in Cambodia in January, the Joint Media Statement of the 25th Meeting of ASEAN Tourism Ministers stated the way forward for the Region to recover through the implementation of the post-Covid-19 Recovery Plan for ASEAN National Tourism Organisations (NTO), which was endorsed in September 2021.
“Moving forward, I believe we can work together to strengthen collaborations in marketing and promoting the region’s tourism offerings. This is also in line with the new ASEAN branding ‘A Destination for Every Dream’, where we can continue to market Southeast Asia as a single destination,” said Dato’ Sri Nancy during the get-together.
ASEAN countries have been the major contributors to Malaysia’s international tourist arrivals. In 2019, the total arrivals to Malaysia from the ASEAN region were 17,880,151 – a 68.5 per cent share of the overall arrivals of 26,100,784 tourists.
Despite the closed borders in 2020 and 2021, essential travellers entering Malaysia still contributed 68 per cent of the total tourist arrivals which were 2,949,363 in 2020 and 91, 665 in 2021.
Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, also known as Tourism Malaysia, is an agency under the Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture Malaysia, focusing on the specific task of promoting Malaysia as a preferred tourism destination.
Since its inception, it has emerged as a major player in the international tourism scene.
This article was first published on 09 July 2022 in our Weekly Epaper issue 201 |
THE BRUNEIAN | BANGSAR, MALAYSIA
