BY DEBAJYOTI CHAKRABORTY
KOLKATA | 28 MARCH 2026
India has emerged as the sixth largest source market for Tourism Malaysia, climbing one position in the ladder from the seventh spot earlier and in the mid haul category , India is only next to China, says Mr. Ahmad Johanif Mohd Ali, Director of Tourism Malaysia in New Delhi. This year Tourism Malaysia expects over two million direct footfalls from India.
In an exclusive interview to The Travel and Tourism Times at the sidelines of the ongoing India International Travel Mart in Biswa Bangla Convention Centre, where Tourism Malaysia is a partner country, Mr. Ahmad Johanif Mohd Ali has informed that in the year 2025 about 1.56 million Indians have visited Malaysia, which is much higher than 1.3 million footfalls in the year 2024.
“ The present crisis in the Middle East has opened up the tourism opportunities for the South East Asian countries. Not only are tourists avoiding West Asia due to the ongoing war, but also Europe due to high travel costs because of air restrictions . Tourism Malaysia is also eyeing this huge opportunity for inbound tourism growth and from India it takes barely four to five hours by air. That is why it is taking part in all the Travel and Tourism Marts in the country and organizing roadshows in the top cities in India for sales promotion,”he added.
The present seating capacity of all the airlines operating between India and Malaysia from 14 Indian cities is 2.4 million and the current weekly seating capacity is 43,000. From Delhi to Kualalumpur there are ten flights per week. The load factor of most flights operated by Malaysian airlines are over 85 percent.
To meet the further demand either the flight operators need to introduce wide bodied aircraft or increase frequency of flights. About two million Indians also visit Malaysia through Singapore. The current passenger carrying capacities of these aircrafts are about 160 and in the coming days need to introduce wide bodied aircrafts having a capacity of 240 seats to meet the growing demand, the Director of Tourism Malaysia, Delhi added.
There is also an agreement between the airlines operating between India and Malaysia. Indian Airlines operators also fly from Tier -1 cities. The higher demand will boost the Indian operators to increase their load factors.
However, the vast Indian diaspora living in the middle east countries, who also visit Malaysia could not visit during this time due to disturbances in the West Asia region.
To tap the sudden opportunity of growth due to West Asia turbulence, Tourism Malaysia has been highlighting new destinations like Sabah, Burneo, Johor and Desaru . “ We have been focusing on these new destinations and want to highlight that Tourism Malaysia is also beyond the three much visited destinations and focusing on niche products like skydiving, eco tourism, adventure tourism etc rather than the normal sightseeing , ” he added.
To promote the ‘TOP MIND DESTINATIONS’, Tourism Malaysia has been hopping throughout the country highlighting its newest destinations and attractions. The biggest game changer has been the VISA FREE announcement in October 2024, and that has played a key role in the increase of Indian Tourist Footfall in Malaysia, which had set new records year after year since then, claimed Mr. Ahmad Johanif Mohd Ali.
Mr. Manav Soni, of Travel Agents Association (East), Mr. Debjit Dutta, Chairman of IATO, Mr. Sanjeev Mehra, President of Skal India, Mr. Rohit Hangal, MD of Sphere Travel Media also highlighted and briefed the travel agents fraternity about the current opportunity to travel to Malaysia from Indian cities in wake of the current geo political scenario in the Middle east. The entire middle east bound travelers can be shifted to much safer, nearby and attractive and cheaper destinations like Malaysia, they felt.
On Friday, Tourism Malaysia Networking Dinner was held at The Nautilus, Fairley Ghat in City of Joy, Kolkata, in which several hundreds of travel agents and leaders of the travel trade were present. Mr. Ahmad Johanif Mohd Ali also spoke on the occasion about the huge tourism offerings from Tourism Malaysia and briefed about new destinations like Sabah.
Mr. Muhammad Akmal Hafiz Abdul Aziz, Deputy Director of Tourism Malaysia, New Delhi, Ms. Poonam Nautiyal, Marketing Manager of Tourism Malaysia, New Delhi, Mr. Brajesh K. Gupta, Sales Manager – East India of Malaysia Airlines, Mr. Apurba Sanyal, Senior Executive, Air Asia, Kolkata and about a dozen other stakeholders from Malaysia were present at the gala networking and dinner .
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