TravTalk India Online Magazine
In the countdown to Visit Malaysia Year 2026, Tourism Malaysia is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that its presence is felt in India. Nuwal Fadhillah Ku Azmi, Director, International Promotion (Asia & Africa), Tourism Malaysia, shares plans with TRAVTALK.
Hazel Jain
India has been a key market for Malaysia for over 20 years, and with the upcoming Visit Malaysia Year 2026, the NTO is targeting 1.5 million Indian travellers. Sharing the strategy for this, Nuwal Fadhillah Ku Azmi, Director, International Promotion (Asia & Africa), Tourism Malaysia, says, “With ‘Visit Malaysia Year 2026’ we want to encourage more tourists to come to Malaysia. India is already one of our top-10 international markets with 1.1 million tourists in 2023. But now we also want to focus on special interest groups apart from the FITs, such as wedding, MICE and incentive groups. So for 2026, we are looking at achieving 1.2 million to 1.5 million tourists. That is why we are really looking at marketing and promoting Malaysia aggressively in India.”
In 2024, Malaysia welcomed a record one million tourists from India, with southern India contributing more than 50 per cent of Indian visitors. The strong connectivity between southern India and Malaysia is underscored by 151 weekly flights and a total seat capacity of 26,686 seats per week. The recent introduction of new flights by Indigo to Penang and Langkawi from Chennai and Bengaluru further enhances travel options.
Currently, Malaysia has a visa-free policy for Indian tourists and there are more than 245 flights connecting India to Malaysia. “The latest one to be added is IndiGo flying into Penang and Langkawi, besides Kuala Lumpur. So, we are hoping to attract more Indian tourists to not just Kuala Lumpur, but also to other parts of Malaysia. Apart from participating in OTM, we are conducting our sales mission to Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kochi. We also have two special seminars focusing on wedding planners and one for incentive groups. Weddings is a growing market for us, and we believe we can develop the segment even more. What we are doing right now is getting our industry players, such as our hotels and the suppliers, to be ready to receive Indian tourists,” she adds. Tourism Malaysia embarked on its largest-ever Sales Mission to India, taking place from 3-7 February 2025. The mission visited key cities of Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Kochi, with a delegation of 60-plus sellers from Malaysia.
In a focused endeavour to inspire its top corporates, Thomas Cook (India) partnered with Tourism Malaysia to host a high-impact MICE event in Mumbai. The engagement witnessed strong participation of over 30 CXOs and senior executives from leading multinational corporations and Indian corporate houses across sectors that included BFSI, pharma, and electronics. The format of the event allowed for a productive blend of business and networking, packed with presentations, discussions and one-on-one sessions that allowed participants to explore Malaysia’s MICE offerings.
Malaysian strategy for India
Sharing details on the strategy for India, Datuk Manoharan Periasamy, Director General, Tourism Malaysia, says, “We have more than 68 suppliers participating with us at OTM and our sales mission. We are also having an interaction with wedding planners and a corporate networking session along with Thomas Cook India. These efforts are to enhance our presence in India in line with Visit Malaysia Year 2026. We also want to attract the high-end segment from India.”
He adds, “We are talking directly with the tour operators here in India and working with the airlines, along with famils for agents. Our focus is to offer a more experiential holiday to Indian visitors through edu-tourism, homestay programmes, and community-based tourism.” Tourism Malaysia recently collaborated with Marriott International for its Malaysia Food and Cultural Festival at JW Café, JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar. Apart from this, Malaysia Sports Tourism Association signed an MoU with Tourism India Alliance to boost sports tourism in India.
