S Puvaneswary, Kuala Lumpur (2010-10-06)

TOURISM Malaysia is promoting luxury packages to attract Chinese high-yield tourists to stay for at least five days.

Niche products such as golfing, diving and the Malaysia My Second Home programme have been introduced to the Chinese market.

Working towards repositioning Malaysia as a high-end holiday destination,  Tourism Malaysia is negotiating with Chinese agents to promote luxury holiday packages. These packages include stays at five-star hotels, quality tours and fine cuisine. “The response has been good,” said Tourism Malaysia’s acting director-general, Azizan Noordin.

This year, Malaysia is targeting 1.1 million Chinese (including Hong Kong and Macau) visitors, a 7.3 per cent increase over last year’s arrivals.

For the first six months of 2010, Malaysia welcomed 516,160 visitors from China. This makes China the top medium-haul market and the fourth largest tourist arrivals market for Malaysia.

Working in Malaysia’s favour is the increase in direct flights and frequencies between Kuala Lumpur and various points in China.

In total, the Malaysia-China sector is serviced by 226 flights per week, with a capacity of 50,267 seats.

Mayflower deputy general manager, Andy Soo, said with the large seat inventory, the company was able to bring in 5,000 Chinese MICE delegates in two arrivals in the past.