21 December 2017—Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia Charles C. Jose expressed appreciation for the efforts done by Malaysian travel agents, tour operators and media personalities for vigorously promoting the Philippines as a tourist destination in an appreciation dinner held on December 8 at the Oriental Pavilion restaurant in Kuala Lumpur.

“This year, Malaysia remains to be in our top 10 major sources of tourists, as the Philippines welcomed 106,720 Malaysians as of September 2017, easily hitting the 100,000-mark in Malaysian tourist arrivals for the fifth straight year,” Ambassador Jose said in his remarks.

Ambassador Jose highlighted the successes in 2017, such as the country’s hosting of Miss Universe 2016 in early January this year and the Philippine chairmanship of the ASEAN in its 50th anniversary, and the launching of new air routes that include the return of Philippine Airlines to ply the Manila-Kuala Lumpur route and the upcoming launch of AirAsia’s Davao-Kuala Lumpur flight this month.  

“These numbers are a direct result of the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) energetic and aggressive promotion of our destinations here in Malaysia, as recently evidenced by its participation in various trade and tourism fairs, such as the MATTA Fair, the Malaysian International Dive Expo and the Malaysian International Travel Mart, as well as promotion in media and inviting bloggers and influencers to dive trips in Anilao and Coron.  Its Joint Project with StarCruise for the Fly-Cruise Familiarization Tour that took Malaysian travel agents to Manila to promote the country as a cruise stopover is also noteworthy,” Ambassador Jose stated.

For her part, Tourism Marketing Representative for Malaysia and Thailand Dato Melissa Ong, announced that the DOT would further intensify its programs and projects to attract more Malaysians to visit the Philippines.  END