The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)  with the national travel associations in India.

The agreement with the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) and Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) will focus on boosting two-way travel between the two countries during Visit Malaysia Year 2020.

MATTA president Datuk Tan Kok Liang commented: “Malaysia is ready to welcome tourists from India for Visit Malaysia 2020 and this MoU is a winning collaboration for MATTA with the TAAI, TAFI and OTOAI, which augurs well for tourism in both countries.”

In an effort to boost visits from India, MATTA will encourage member companies to introduce new itineraries and tour packages. Visits from India increased from 600,311 in 2018 to an estimated 750,000  in 2019, an increase of 23.2%.

Travel from India should boom now Malaysia has opened visa-free travel for 15 days after the government extended the Electronic Travel Registration and Information (eNTRI) system to both travellers from India and China.

 Nationals from India and China can travel freely to Malaysia without applying for a visa as long as they pre-register with eNTRI system.

MATTA is also backing proposals to increase air connectivity, develop new tourism products and improve options for travellers from both India and China.

“MATTA will continue to support the government and Tourism Malaysia in developing India as a stronger tourist source market, and work with airlines to add new routes and increase flight frequencies for scheduled flights and explore the feasibility of charter flights to meet market demand,” he concluded.