Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) final day of the convention in Kuching, Malaysia concluded on a high note at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK). Kick-started with B2B meetings with close to 108 Malaysian travel suppliers (meeting over 480 buyers from India representing 240 travel companies), the tourism board also launched Tourism Malaysia online training programme for travel trade partners in India.

During the last day of the convention, Dato’ Sri Hajah Nancy Shukri, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia said, “This has been an amazing three days of sharing business ideas, strategies and opportunities with leading travel partners and TAFI members from India. Malaysia as a destination has everything an Indian traveller is looking for and I’m sure TAFI Convention will further enhance our destination positioning among Indian travellers in the coming times.”

Datuk Seri Dr Anil Jeet Singh Sindhu, Deputy Chairman, Tourism Malaysia said, “We are putting every effort to ease Indian travellers movement to Malaysia – be it direct flights to regional destinations, more flight frequencies, Visa On Arrival and incentives for MICE movement. Each and every region of Malaysia is important for us to promote and through TAFI Convention, we want to showcase to the Indian travel experts that Malaysia has everything to offer with every region offering something different to every segment of traveller.”

Speaking about the expectation from TAFI Convention, Sharzede Salleh Askor, CEO, Sarawak Tourism Board said, “We know TAFI has been quite instrumental with Tourism Malaysia in the past and has helped our national tourism board to build destination awareness in the Indian market. Sarawak is still an unexplored region in the Indian market and we intend to bring more awareness through this TAFI Convention. Only 20-30% of the total Indian tourists visiting Malaysia come to the Sarawak region, and we expect these figures to grow after TAFI Convention.”

Ajay Prakash, President, TAFI said, “TAFI is always looking for destination partners who are keen to promote their destination through travel experts and believe in educating the trade for better business opportunities. We are thankful to Tourism Malaysia and all our key partners for their support to make this convention a huge success and I’m confident that all our members from India are returning back with a better product and destination knowledge. However, this is not the end of our partnership with Tourism Malaysia as we will continue to work with them in the Indian market by organising roadshows, educational activities and destination training programmes to make Malaysia a preferred destination for Indian travellers.”

With the tagline “Build Back Better”, the convention discussed sustainability, advanced greening efforts, conservation and responsible tourism during its sessions. During the convention, TAFI members and all the delegates and partners also took an oath for equal gender opportunities in their business environment – an initiative by VFS Global.

The convention also organised a series of Pre & Post Tour in Malaysia in association with local partners and sponsors, namely the Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents (MATTA), Malaysian Airlines, Batik Air, TTA Johor Tourism, Desaru Coast, Desaru Fruit Farm, Holiday Inn Johor Bharu City Center, Trinidad Suite Puteri Harbour, Ibis Hotel Kuala Lumpur, Resort World Genting, Tourism Selangor, Sunway Lagoon, Sunway Resort Kuala Lumpur, Penang Global Tourism (PGT), Langkawi Development Authority (LADA), Tropical Charters Langkawi, Lexis Hibiscus, Sabah Tourism Board, and WebBeds.

In 2019, the Indian market contributed 735,309 arrivals (22%) to the country. Sarawak has the potential to become a key destination in Malaysia with a focus on ecotourism, conservation and sustainability.