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However, such tours are aimed at a
minority of Vietnamese people. Mean-
while, normal products are becoming
too familiar and uninspiring for most.
A four day and three night tour from
Vietnam to Kuala Lumpur and Genting,
or a combined tour to Malaysia and
Singapore are offered by every tour
operator in Vietnam and have been for
many years.
Truong believes that new products,
new routes and advanced pro-
motion campaigns should be
introduced to stimulate more
Vietnamese to choose Malay-
sia, particularly during 2014’s
Visit Malaysia Year. He sug-
gests that airlines, hotels and
operators should join hands to
offer special prices.
Agreeing with Truong,
Tiep highlighted the support
from Tourism Malaysia De-
partment, the close coopera-
tion from local travel agents
and further discounts on air
tickets as important tools.
“Partners should think about
lowering profits and stabiliz-
ing service quality in a bid to
attract clients from Vietnam,”
he said.
In order to diversify op-
tions for Vietnamese tourists,
Tourism Malaysia is promot-
ing Sabah (Kota Kinabalu) as a
new destination.
“This is a wonderful des-
tination with coral straits,
clean beaches, forest eco-
resorts, hills and indigenous
ethnic groups,” said Truong,
who rates Sabah highly as a
potential destination for cor-
porate clients.
Golden Services, TST and
TransViet have new prod-
ucts including Kota Kinabalu,
which depend on the ticket
policies of airlines as well as
suitable prices from local land
tour operators.
However, double flights
from Vietnam will hike the
costs and lead to long jour-
ney times; hence, many tour
agents are calling for direct flights from
Vietnam to Kota Kinabalu.
VISIT MALAYSIA YEAR 2014
Malaysia’s Tourism and Culture
Minister, Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri
Abdul Aziz, has said that Malaysia is
targeting 28.8 million tourist arrivals
in 2014.
Malaysia hopes that the tourism
year will act as a catalyst for all Malay-
sians, from every walk of life, to partici-
pate and assist in creating an accessible
and welcoming experience for every
visitor. 2014 will see a huge variety
of events spanning sports, culture and
the arts.
“We are kicking off in a big way
by hosting several tourism carnivals to
create awareness and solicit strong sup-
port from both the public and private
sectors,” he said.
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