travel
Malaysians top 5 tourists to Western Australia, says survey
Malaysia is among the top 5 countries in terms of tourist arrivals to Western Australia. – Reuters pic, November 24, 2015.Malaysia is among the top five countries in terms of tourist arrivals to Western Australia, said Tourism Western Australia International Market Manager, Tom Upson.
The first is UK, followed by Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia and US.
He said based on the Tourism Western Australia International Visitor Survey 2015, Malaysians are expected to spend A$191 million (RM588.43 million) this year.
Upson, who in is charge of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia markets, said for the first half of 2015, about 75,000 Malaysian tourists visited Western Australia compared with 64,000 during the same period for 2014.
"This shows that that the depreciation of the ringgit is not a deterrent for Malaysians to travel to the Australian state," he told Malaysian journalists on Malindo Air's maiden flight to Perth recently.
The flight, from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 to Perth Airport, started on November 19. It will have 11 weekly services using Boeing 737-900ER.
Upson said according to the survey, the state will receive about 143,200 visitors from the UK, followed by Singapore (82,800), New Zealand (80,200), Malaysia (71,100) and US (57,400).
Indonesia is in eighth place at 28,000 visitors.
"Malaysians will spend about A$191 million, while Singaporeans and Indonesians will bring in A$177 million (RM545.3 million) and A$68 million (RM209.49 million) respectively," Upson said.
He said 75,000 Singaporeans visited Western Australia for the first half of 2014 compared with 83,500 for the corresponding period in 2015.
There was a slight decline in the number of tourist arrivals from Indonesia, from 29,400 in 2014 to 27,000 this year due to bilateral issues between Australia and Indonesia, he said.
"However, we expect the figure to improve soon when Indonesians start to enjoy the three-month stay like Malaysians and Singaporeans," he added.
Upson said the average stay for Malaysian, Singaporean and Indonesian visitors to Western Australia is between four and five days, with 90% of them spending time in Perth and the remaining in the outskirts of the city.
He said 51% of them came on holiday and leisure, with the remaining visiting relatives and friends, business trips and education.
Upson said that China and India would be the next big markets for Western Australia and it would embark on an aggressive campaign to attract visitors from the two countries.
There would be six to nine new hotels in Perth from now until 2019, increasing the number of rooms to 2,000, he added.
"We are also expect the meetings, incentives, conferences and events segment to bring in more tourist dollar, including attracting companies rewarding their staff and top performers for overseas holidays," said Upson.
Meanwhile, Senior Director Tourism Malaysia, Datin Normasila Musa, said Australia is an important market to Malaysia and among the top ten tourist markets.
"Last year, we welcomed 571,328 Australian tourists to Malaysia, an 8.5% growth over 2014," she said.
She said the launch of Malindo Air's Perth-Kuala Lumpur route marked very important initiative to boost travel between Malaysia and Australia.
Normasila said now is a great time for them to visit Malaysia with the currency exchange rate favouring Australians. – Bernama, November 24, 2015.
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