KUALA LUMPUR, 29 August 2014 – Media from five major agencies in Osaka arrived in Malaysia today under a Cross Media Fam Trip, organised by Tourism Malaysia and the Osaka Government Tourism Bureau. The media exchange programme is organised in conjunction with Malaysia’s 57th National Day and goes in line with the country’s efforts to boost arrivals from Japan.

The Cross Media Fam Trip is part of a bilateral promotion agreement between Malaysia and Osaka. It was made during an official visit by the Minister of Tourism and Culture Malaysia Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz to the Vice Governor of the Osaka Prefecture Konishi Tadakazu on 6 February this year.

The five media agencies consist of Sankei Newspaper, Mainichi Newspaper, AB Road Online, Kansai Walker Magazine and Travel Journal. They will visit Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Selangor, and Melaka during their stay here until 2 September. The media group is also accompanied by representatives from the Osaka Government Tourism Bureau.

As part of their visit, six members of the media from Osaka will also be attending an interview session with Dato’ Seri Nazri, who will be hosting a dinner for them on 1 September at the Shangri-La Hotel Kuala Lumpur. The dinner will also be attended by the ten media representatives from Malaysia who have been selected to travel to Osaka from 29 November to 3 December 2014 under this media exchange programme.

This Cross Media Fam Trip is part of Tourism Malaysia’s effort to tap into the Japanese market, especially the Kansai Prefectures, which has a total population of 19 million people. From January to April this year, a total of 187,551 Japanese tourists visited Malaysia, which was an increase of 7.0% from the same period last year.

ENDS

For more media releases, media info and media features on Malaysia’s tourism industry, kindly visit the Media Centre of Tourism Malaysia’s website at http://www.tourismmalaysia.gov.my/

MALAYSIA TOURISM PROMOTION BOARD OR TOURISM MALAYSIA is an agency under the Ministry of Tourism & Culture, Malaysia. Tourism Malaysia focuses on the specific task of promoting Malaysia at all levels. Since its inception, Tourism Malaysia has grown by leaps and bounds and it has emerged as a major player in the international tourism scene. In 2013, Malaysia registered 25.7 million tourist arrivals and RM65.4 billion in receipts, making tourism its second largest foreign exchange earner and the sixth highest contributor to its Gross National Income (GNI).

Malaysia is celebrating its fourth VISIT MALAYSIA YEAR (VMY) in 2014 with the theme “Celebrating 1Malaysia Truly Asia”. The VMY 2014 promotional campaign has started in 2013 with a series of year-long special events and activities leading to VMY 2014. It will contribute to the Government’s target to receive 36 million tourist arrivals and RM168 billion in receipts by 2020, as outlined in the Malaysia Tourism Transformation Plan (MTTP) 2020.    

Press contact:
Media Relations Unit:
Hazrina Azman (Ms), Asst. Director, Communications & Publicity Division
Tel: +603-8891 8755
Email: hazrina@tourism.gov.my

Editorial Unit:
Anis Rozalina Ramli (Ms), Senior Editor, Communications & Publicity Division
Tel: +603-8891 8759
Email: anisramli@tourism.gov.my