JOHOR BARU, Dec 29 — The Visit Malaysia Year 2020 (VMY2020) promotion is still progressing as normal following the schedule of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia (MOTAC) through its agencies.

In fact, the promotion for VMY2020 had already started since January 2018, said MOTAC deputy Secretary General (Culture) Saraya Arbi.

She said a large scale VMY2020 promotion campaign had already been carried out abroad including in Bangkok, Thailand; Berlin, Germany and also in London, United Kingdom.

At the domestic level, Tourism Malaysia had also conducted several promotions such as in Sabah, Sarawak and peninsula Malaysia, she said.

Advertisement

‘’In addition, we also hold co-operations with several nations to bring in foreign tourists to Malaysia. This has been implemented via several chartered flights, such as recently, when, for the first time, we brought in tourists from Khazakstan,’’ she told reporters at a friendly gathering with handicraft entrepreneurs at the Johor Craft Festival at the Padang Angsana Mall, here today.

Saraya said the VMY2020 promotion would be escalated further from Dec 31 through ‘Ambang 2020’.

‘’We will have a skylight show using drones as a launching gimmick during the night of the eve of the new year,’’ she said.

Advertisement

In addition, a day later, (Jan 1) a large scale reception for tourists together with the state governments and Tourism Malaysia would be held at 22 entry gates to Malaysia.

‘’Next year too, we will implement over 100 major events to ensure that when the tourists arrive, we have products to be viewed. And at the same time, we will will have an attractive list such as the locations of the 20 best eating places packages, 20 honeymoon packages and others on our website,’’ she said.

Also present at the ceremony was MOTAC’s new Secretary General, Datuk Dr Noor Zari Hamat. — Bernama