Tourism Malaysia strengthened its engagement with the South Indian travel trade through the Chennai leg of its Sales Mission Series 2, held at Hyatt Regency Chennai, bringing together 47 Malaysian tourism stakeholders and more than 150 local travel trade participants. Organised in collaboration with Batik Air, the programme facilitated B2B networking, product exchanges and discussions on new opportunities to promote travel to Malaysia.
The mission was led by Mohd Amirul Rizal Abdul Rahim, Director General of Tourism Malaysia, who highlighted India's importance as a key source market. The programme was attended by the Consul General of Malaysia in Chennai as Chief Guest, while Mr. Hishamuddin Mustafa, Director of Tourism Malaysia Chennai, highlighted strong connectivity, with 119 weekly flights and 20,548 seats from South India. He also emphasised opportunities across Penang, Langkawi, Sabah, Sarawak and Johor covering nature, adventure, culture, gastronomy, MICE and destination weddings.
Malaysia welcomed more than 1.5 million visitor arrivals from India in 2025, supported by visa-free travel for Indian nationals introduced in December 2023. With the Visit Malaysia campaign extended through 2027, Tourism Malaysia Chennai will continue working with travel trade and airline partners through sales missions, roadshows and product presentations to promote Malaysia's diverse destinations among travellers from Chennai, Tiruchirappalli, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Trivandrum and Kochi.