Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan, Deputy Tourism Minister led the Malaysian delegation to participate in Dubai (ATM)

UNN/Andy Sengiah : Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Malaysia YB Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan greeting Mr Johnson Francis and Mdm Glory Marthandan at Oscar Holidays stall witnessed by Senior Director International Promotion (Asia & Africa) Mr Manoharan Periasamy and Mr Barshan Azeez, Head of Operations (Inbound) at Arabian Travel Mart 2023, World Trade Centre, Dubai

Tourism Malaysia’s efforts to publicize its comprehensive promotional activities continue to the Middle Eastern region. The Honourable Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts & Culture Malaysia, led the Malaysian delegation to participate once again in the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai from 1st to 4th May 2023 at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC).
The four-day ATM offers Malaysia an excellent platform to market and promote the latest attractions and destinations for shopping, family fun, eco-adventure, honeymoon, luxury holidays, and safe travel destinations. ATM 2023 also marks the 29th anniversary of Malaysia’s participation in this prestigious event, which is a strong testimony to the country’s support of the event and its commitment to attracting more Middle Eastern tourists to Malaysia.
As in previous years, this prestigious annual event sees the participation of a Malaysian delegation from 76 organizations comprising hotels and resorts, travel agents, tourism products owners, representatives from various state governments, including Langkawi Development Authority (LADA), Penang Global Tourism, Sabah Tourism Board, Sarawak Tourism Board, Tourism Melaka, Tourism Pahang, and Tourism Johor.
The mission aims to reinstate and enhance the commitment to establishing good tourism cooperation, engaging in future collaborations, and cooperation with the travel and tourism industry in the region. Honourable Khairul Firdaus said during the launch, “In line with Visit Malaysia in 2025, Tourism Malaysia will strive to attract more tourists from the Middle East to Malaysia. We are confident that we will achieve our target to put Malaysia as the top destination for Muslim travellers,”.
Throughout the event, the Malaysian delegation is scheduled to meet up with the top management of a few Middle Eastern airlines such as Qatar Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Saudia Airlines, Air Arabia, Oman Air and Salam Air to discuss future collaborations, besides having several interviews with the local media.
On the 2nd and 3rd May 2023, Honourable Khairul Firdaus will also witness the signing of two Memorandum of Collaboration (MOC) between Tourism Malaysia and Saudia Airlines and Tourism Malaysia with Air Arabia. This MOC will benefit the Malaysian economy and strengthen economic ties through the tourism industry between Malaysia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Following that, Honourable Khairul Firdaus will host a ‘Malaysia Nite Gala Dinner’ on 2nd May 2023 to thank the tourism fraternity in Dubai and the local media for their support and assistance in promoting Malaysia.
Since its full reopening of international borders, Malaysia has recorded a total of 10,070,964 (10.07 million) tourist arrivals and RM28.2 billion (AED 23.5 billion) in tourist receipts in 2022, surpassing its initial target of 9.2 million international tourist arrivals. In 2023, Malaysia is targeting to welcome 16.1 million international tourist arrivals (300,000 tourists from the West Asia) and generate RM49.2 billion (AED 41.1 billion) in tourist receipts.