TIRUCHY: Malaysia is expected to welcome 29.4 million tourist arrivals and garner RM 89 billion in tourist receipts during the current year as against last year’s tourist arrivals of 27.4 million, said Noor Azman Bin Samsudin, Director, Consulate General of Malaysia (Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board- MTPB), Chennai.
Mr. Samsudden, who was here for the launch of the new twice-a-week service on the Penang-Tiruchi-Penang sector, by ‘Malindo Air’, Malaysia’s hybrid airline, on Saturday night, told newsmen that from India they received 720,000 tourists last year and this year they expect to touch one million tourists.
Stating that India is the sixth largest contributor to the tourism sector in Malaysia, he hoped that this new air link would contribute to boost tourism in support of ‘MYFEST 2015’, encouraging the Indian tourists to come more often and stay longer in order to enjoy the festival offerings nationwide. Ms M.C. Kavitha, marketing manager, Tourism Malaysia, MTPB, said they would organise a shopping festival at Malaysia during November-December this year, to attract more foreign tourists, especially from India.
Ms Kavitha said since the Tiruchy is an important destination for the air connectivity between India and Malaysia, the MTPB will closely coordinate with the travel agents in and around Tiruchy to woo more tourists from South India to Malaysia. Tiruchy is one of the few airports in India to have direct air connectivity with Penang, she added.
Mr S Suresh, station manager, ‘Malindo Air’, Tiruchy, said the flights would be operated on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The airline would operate a Boeing 737-900 ER aircraft with 180 seats on the sector. The flight would depart from Penang at 8.30 pm (Penang local time) and arrive here at 9.40 pm (Tiruchy local time IST). The return flight will depart from Tiruchi at 10.30 pm (IST) and reach Penang at 4.45 am (Penang local time) next morning.
Others who participated in the function included Tiruchy Airport director B C H Negi and Tiruchirap palli intra city development endeavour’s honarary president Achhar Singh.
