Singapore - With low-cost carriers starting to fly the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur (KL) route from February 1, the Tourism Malaysia office in Singapore is working with budget airlines to encourage more Singapore visitors to travel to other parts of Malaysia.
But it has not set specific targets.
Still, the latest tie-up is likely to have an impact on the 1.3 million travellers from Singapore who travel to KL by coach.
Revealing its plans on Thursday, Tourism Malaysia says visitors from Singapore traditionally head to Melaka, Kuala Lumpur and Genting Highlands.
So when budget carrier flights to KL kick in, it hopes that Singapore visitors will head to other non-traditional destinations.
This year, Tourism Malaysia is focusing on destinations rather than events.
Three states that will be highlighted are Kedah, Terrengganu and Kelantan which all have their own tourism campaigns.
Tourism Malaysia has also launched a new portal www.ineedabreak.com.sg to promote various destinations.
It hopes to attract 10.2 million visitors from Singapore this year.
This is just a little higher that the 10.1 million visitors from Singapore recorded in 2007.
This translates to 800,000 visitors from Singapore heading up north every month.
Tourism Malaysia adds that visitors from Singapore made up 50.4 percent of the total of 20.1million tourists who visited Malaysia last year.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com (18 Januari 2008)
