Indian tourists’ arrival to Malaysia has been badly affected in the first half of 2020 and has dropped by 56.6% when compared to the same period in 2019. “In the first half of last year, we had 3,54,486 visitors from India. This year, the number stands at 1,53,873 due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Razaidi Abd Rahim, director of Tourism Malaysia, Chennai (South India and Sri Lanka).
Mr. Rahim had a brief meeting with members of the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) and the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI). He told them that travel and tourism (in Malaysia) will eventually bounce back and will be even better than before with more opportunities. “Efforts have been taken to introduce attractive packages, while at the same time adhering to the SOPs given by the government,” he said.
Pointing out that India is among the top six countries for Malaysia when it came to overall arrivals, he said that he is hopeful that travel would resume by the first or second quarter of 2021.
