SINGAPORE: Tourism Malaysia has signed a strategic three-year partnership with Singapore Airline subsidiary, low-cost carrier Scoot to bring in a bigger volume of international tourists to Malaysia in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year 2026 and beyond.
The three-year Memorandum of Collaboration was inked at the Scoot headquarters in Singapore on Thursday between the top management of Scoot and Tourism Malaysia.
Tourism Malaysia director-general Datuk Manoharan Periasamy said the strategic partnership with Scoot is crucial in efforts to promote Malaysia to wider global audiences.
“Scoot has a very extensive network in this region and in the global arena. This collaboration is very crucial for Tourism Malaysia as we prepare for Visit Malaysia Year 2026.
“This timely deal will allow us to tap into the high regional and global markets serviced by Scoot.
“As of May, Malaysia recorded a year-on-year surge of 20.4% in international tourists arrivals. This is a 16.9 million increase in the number of foreign tourists.
“Singapore remains top with 8.3 million arrivals, followed by Indonesia, China, Thailand and India,” he said, adding that Malaysia hopes to welcome 43 million international tourists by the year-end.
Scoot director of marketing, communications and loyalty Agatha Yap described the partnership with Tourism Malaysia as “very exciting”.
“Malaysia is a very important market for us. Scoot operates 115 weekly flights to 11 destinations (comprising) Ipoh, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Kuantan, Kuching, Langkawi, Malacca, Miri, Penang, Sibu and Subang. On Oct 26, we will start flights to Kota Bharu.”
She said Scoot will promote Malaysia through co-branded campaigns to attract tourists from China, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore and other markets.
Also present at the signing event were Scoot chief commercial officer Calvin Chan, director of Tourism Malaysia (Singapore office) Norliza Md Zain and High Commissioner of Malaysia to Singapore Datuk Azfar Mohamad Mustafar.