Published on : Thursday, February 14, 2019
During the period from January to September 2018, arrivals from Singapore dropped by 15.6 per cent year on year to 7.8 million. According to Edzuar Zar Ayob Azari, Tourism Malaysia’s Singapore office director, 97 per cent of Singapore arrivals to Malaysia were land-based.
Tourism Malaysia is running a tactical campaign with EasyBook.com, a land and sea transportation online booking platform in South-east Asia. It includes special getaway packages and a 15 per cent discount on all bus bookings from Singapore to Malaysia bought from the EasyBook.com site. The promotion is valid for bookings received up to March 15 for travel up to March end.
Part of the reason behind the decline was congestion at both checkpoints (Causeway and the Second Link), which deterred overland travel from Singapore to Malaysia for undisturbed nearby destinations like Bintan and Batam in Indonesia.
To ease congestion, Tourism Malaysia’s Singapore office has since late last year been informing the immigration department before the Singapore school holiday season and when there are large groups travelling to Malaysia.
To drive overall arrivals into the country, Tourism Malaysia’s Singapore office is aiming to intensify its B2C marketing campaigns this year and build closer ties with the local travel trade.