Growing Malaysian interest

The MSAR registered the largest growth in interest by Malaysian travellers as an outbound destination on booking website Hotels.com between April and June of this year, with a 66.1 per cent quarter-to-quarter increase, according to website Malaysian Digest.
Citing information provided by the booking site, Malaysian Digest reveals that after Macau the Japanese city of Osaka and South Korean city Seoul were the fastest growing cities in terms of interest for Malaysian travellers in the second quarter of this year, with 45.4 per cent and 44.7 per cent quarterly growth in traveller numbers, respectively.
“We have seen a significant increase in interest in overseas destinations, from Macau to London, amongst Malaysian travellers during the second quarter of the year,” the Regional Director for Greater China, Southeast Asia & India for Hotels.com, Jessica Chuang, stated.
During an April campaign promoting tourism between the MSAR and Malaysia, Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes announced Malaysia was an important “middle-term” tourism market for Macau, reinforcing the group’s 2017 plan announced in January in which it would ‘promote diversification of international source markets’, pinpointing Malaysia and Indonesia as examples.
According to the latest data provided by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) some 109,434 Malaysian visitors entered the MSAR in the first six months of the year, a 6.6 per cent year-on-year increase, with Malaysia ranking 7th in the top 10 visitor source markets during the first half year, and 9th during the month of June.