TravTalk India Online Magazine
Roslina Arbak, MD and CEO, Desaru Development Holdings One Sdn Bhd, supports promotion of Desaru Coast – a new destination for the Indian market – and announces its largest incentive package at a total of Rs. 12 million to entice Indian travellers, event and wedding planners and corporates.
Hazel Jain
What was the idea behind promoting Desaru Coast in India?
As an international destination, Desaru Coast has always seen India as an important source market with huge opportunities in all segments. The importance of the Indian market is undeniable. India has one of the highest growths in outbound travel and is expected to grow exponentially in the post-pandemic years. Indian visitors would be among the most coveted travellers due to its developing economy, young population, and rising middle class. Location and access-wise, India is within a four-to-six-hour flight to
Malaysia and Singapore and is easily accessible via three international airports close to Desaru Coast – Singapore Changi Airport, Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Senai International Airport.
This year, we visited India as a fully operational destination resort with all six world-class resorts and attractions and connectivity infrastructure – the Desaru Coast Ferry Terminal, completed. Our priority now is to re-engage and reintroduce our destination to our Indian partners. We are here to demonstrate Desaru Coast’s diverse offerings, infrastructure and readiness to welcome more Indian travellers. We also recently announced our largest incentive package ringing in at a total of `12 million to entice Indian travellers, event and wedding planners and corporates to our coastal resort for their next leisure travel, MICE event and weddings.
What kind of numbers did you see pre-Covid from India?
As a newly developed international destination, Desaru Coast has been opening in stages since 2016. We are now a fully operational destination resort with all six world-class resorts and attractions and connectivity infrastructure. Pre-Covid, we received a good volume of inquiries from the Indian market for MICE.
We are confident that our new signature MICE Reinvented – bespoke, experiential and authentic events will bode well with Indian planners. Desaru Coast has reimagined all possible spaces and experiences across the destination to offer a multitude of integrated indoor and outdoor activities. Future MICE at Desaru Coast can be designed with an enchanting mix of indoor and outdoor experiences to include all five-star facilities, along with curated activities at the beach, forest, mangroves, local villages, golf courses, ballrooms and conference centre.
Do you see Desaru Coast becoming even more popular with Indian wedding segment?
As a fully operational international destination, we are now looking to significantly grow the wedding segment. With our portfolio of assets, Desaru Coast has the holistic product portfolio to be a leading wedding destination for the Indian market. To attract Indian weddings, Rs. 4.4 million incentive will be presented to the first five weddings booked at our destination, which translates to approximately Rs. 8,80,000 per wedding.
Are you looking to conduct some on-ground engagements?
We are working with DMCs in Malaysia, which are actively promoting the country to the Indian market. We have also started working with DMC in Singapore to offer dual city packages.
