Tourism Malaysia Showcased Strong India Focus at OTM 2026, Building Momentum for Visit Malaysia 2026
Tourism Malaysia marked a powerful presence at OTM 2026 in Mumbai, reinforcing the strategic importance of the Indian outbound market as the country accelerated preparations for Visit Malaysia 2026 (VM2026).
A delegation of 75 Malaysian travel industry players participated under the Tourism Malaysia Pavilion, representing travel agencies, hotels, tourism product owners and key state tourism bodies including Tourism Melaka, Tourism Selangor and Sabah Tourism, alongside MyCEB. Batik Air supported the delegation as the official airline partner. The Malaysian contingent was led by YBhg. Datuk Manoharan Periasamy, Chairman of Tourism Malaysia.
Highlighting Malaysia’s tourism performance, Datuk Manoharan stated that the country successfully achieved its 2025 target, welcoming 42.2 million international visitor arrivals—an 11.2 per cent increase over 2024. India remained one of Malaysia’s key source markets, contributing significantly to this growth. He emphasised that the continuation of Malaysia’s visa-free entry policy for Indian nationals had strengthened travel confidence and accessibility, further supported by a robust nationwide calendar of major and signature events under VM2026. Tourism Malaysia reaffirmed its commitment to deepening strategic partnerships in India to drive stronger visitor arrivals in the lead-up to 2026.
In conjunction with OTM 2026, Tourism Malaysia rolled out targeted promotional initiatives, including the Malaysia Food & Culture Promotion at Fairmont Hotel Mumbai (30 January–8 February 2026), a Malaysia Wedding Seminar in collaboration with WeddingSutra, and a Malaysia MICE Seminar with TravTalk. These initiatives positioned Malaysia prominently across high-growth segments such as gastronomy tourism, destination weddings and the MICE industry.
Connectivity between India and Malaysia continued to expand, supported by 242 weekly direct flights from 14 Indian cities, offering 46,157 weekly seats to key gateways including Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Langkawi. Since the introduction of visa-free entry in December 2023, Indian arrivals grew by 14.6 per cent, surpassing 1.6 million visitors in 2025.
Following OTM, Tourism Malaysia extended its engagement through a post-event sales mission and roadshows in Visakhapatnam, Coimbatore and Bangalore, along with participation at SATTE New Delhi—reaffirming its long-term commitment to the Indian market and the successful delivery of Visit Malaysia 2026.
