The sales mission willl make stops at Mumbai, New Delhi, Colombo, Kochi and Bangalore. Tourism Malaysia will organise a travel mart in every city to provide a platform for the travel trade players to meet and network.

It also aims to showcase Malaysia’s diverse tourism offerings and highlight the scope for collaboration between travel agents in Malaysia and India, as well as Sri Lanka.

The Malaysian delegation comprises a total of 86 participants from 44 organisations representing the local travel trade, which include state tourism bodies.

Minister of Tourism and Culture Malaysia Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz is leading the Malaysian delegation to Mumbai and New Delhi from March 17 to 20.

India has always been an important market for Malaysia. In 2013, a total of 650,989 Indian travellers visited Malaysia, maintaining its position as the sixth top tourist generating market to the country.

Tourist arrivals from Sri Lanka was 64,051 in 2013, which was an increase of 2% against 62,821 tourists in 2012.

Last year, the South Asian region contributed 1.08 million tourists to Malaysia’s total arrivals, signifying an increase of 1.9% compared to the previous year.