By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, June 27: Federal Minister for Tourism, Arts, and Culture (MOTAC), Dato Sri Tiong King Sing, has led delegations in high-level discussions with major Japanese companies, Nankai Electric Railway Co Ltd (Nankai Electric Railway) and Nippon Travel Agency Co Ltd (NTA), to explore potential collaborations aimed at boosting tourism and educational travel to Malaysia.
According to a Facebook post by Tiong, the MOTAC delegation visited Nankai Electric Railway’s headquarters in Osaka on June 23.
Despite it being a weekend, they were warmly received by Achikita Teruhiko, Representative Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO)/Chairman and Naoto Ashibe, Representative Director and Senior Managing Corporate Officer, along with their team.
“During the tour of the group’s train stations, I was particularly interested in the exclusive train cars and the advertisement placements within them.
“The airport line, in particular, is a major route connecting Osaka to Kansai International Airport, one of Japan’s busiest airports. Utilising this line for advertising and promotions could yield significant benefits,” said Tiong.
“Our hosts expressed their willingness to collaborate with Tourism Malaysia to conduct advertising and promotional activities through their railway routes and train cars.”
He also introduced the latest improvements in the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme, aiming to promote the initiative more effectively overseas by partnering with Tourism Malaysia.
In a separate meeting, the minister led the MOTAC and Tourism Malaysia delegations to NTA, Japan’s leading travel agency known for its educational travel programmes, on June 25.
The delegations were warmly received by Etsumitsu Kotano, President of NTA, to discuss the development of the Malaysian educational travel market.
“During the meeting, NTA expressed their intention to launch more educational travel packages to Malaysia in conjunction with their 120th anniversary celebration next year, with a target of 2,500 participants.
“I was delighted to hear this and immediately offered 20 slots, inviting them to visit places in Northern Peninsular Malaysia and the east coast such as Langkawi, Penang, Perak, Pahang, and Pulau Redang, as well as Sabah and Sarawak for on-site fam tours. This is to expand the current routes beyond Central and Southern Malaysia,” Tiong stated.
“I hope that through this arrangement, we can increase the target number of participants to 5,000.
“NTA also readily agreed to do their utmost. Upon my return to Malaysia, I will personally contact the Minister of Education and the Minister of Higher Education to seek cooperation with the relevant departments to achieve our goals together.” — DayakDaily
