Malaysian mall operators seek travel partners, attract shoppers in Vietnam

At an event held in Ho Chi Minh City on March 25, the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (Tourism Malaysia) and the Secretariat Shopping Malaysia took the stage to introduce Malaysian shopping tourism, including a number of shopping centers and three annual sales campaigns.

The seminar was held along with a travel mart, where 14 representatives of ten leading Malaysian shopping malls and associations met with local travel agencies to seek cooperation chances.

The delegation includes such popular names as the Batu Road Retailers Association, Fahreinheit88, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, and Sunway Putra Mall.

Vietnamese tourists are encouraged to visit Malaysia for both traveling and shopping purposes, especially during three sales campaigns this year, Chong Yoke Har, deputy director general of Tourism Malaysia, said.

The events include the 1Malaysia Super Sale, running for the entire March; the 1Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival, running from June 15 to August 31, and the 1Malaysia Year-End Sale, falling on the last two months of this year, Chong said.

Tourism Malaysia also took the chance of March 25’s event to introduce Miss SHOPhia, the new shopping symbol for the country. Miss SHOPhia is designed to be a companion for international tourists to enjoy the “super bargains and fantastic experience” of the country’s shopping tourism.

Shopping accounted for most of Malaysia’s tourism revenue. As of the end of September 2015, tourist spending rose 2.9% from a year earlier to RM15.3 billion (US$3.8 billion), or 30% of the total tourism revenue of RM51 billion (US$12.66 billion), according to the Malaysia Tourism deputy chief.

Last year 229,626 Vietnamese tourists visited Malaysia, a 19% decline from 2014. Malaysia Tourism will therefore seek to lure Vietnamese to return, and spend more, Chong said.

In 2014 Vietnamese tourist spent some RM560.1 million (US$138.98 million) in Malaysia, according to the tourism promotion board.

Chong told Tuoi Tre News that there are no immediate more-updated statistics on the spending of Vietnamese tourists in Malaysia. She admitted however that Vietnamese are not among the biggest spending tourists in Malaysia.

Still, Chong is hopeful that more Vietnamese will come to her country and spend bigger on shopping, thanks to the close geographical locations between the countries and the availability of nonstop flights.

The shopping venues in Malaysia also promise a great variety of products at reasonable prices, she told Tuoi Tre News.

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.