Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, August 21, 2021 / TRAVELINDEX / The Saudi Tourism Authority has opened a commercial office in Malaysia covering the South-East Asia region as part of its strategy to engage the travel trade to raise awareness of the destination in key source markets in the region.
The Malaysia office will be responsible for trade and consumer marketing activities, expanding the reach and relevance of Saudi’s tourism offer and working with tour operators, travel agents and other industry stakeholders to build awareness and drive conversion in line with Saudi Tourism Authority’s strategy and mission.
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Saudi Tourism Authority’s new office is being set up with the support of aviation and destination marketing representative company, Aviareps Malaysia, as its in-market representative covering the South-east Asia region.
“We are confident that Saudi’s diverse offering will be appealing to all demographics from the region,” said Shazlin Ahmad, country manager for STA in South East Asia. “We have already begun outreach into the South-east Asia’s tourism trade ecosystem and the response has been very positive. We are actively seeking opportunities to co-invest with partners who are keen to add Saudi as an exciting new destination in their portfolio.”
Since opening its borders to international tourism in September 2019, Saudi rapidly established itself as the fastest growing tourism destination in the world, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.
Despite the global shutdown of leisure tourism in the wake of the pandemic, STA continued to invest to prepare the destination for a return to normalcy. An international brand awareness campaign launched at the beginning of 2021 extends across 26 countries and 13 languages, with significant investment in outdoor, broadcast and digital advertising.
Saudi Arabia reopened to vaccinated international visitors at the beginning of August.
To support the tourism trade ecosystem, STA is introducing Saudi Expert, a comprehensive digital platform providing partner companies such as DMCs, tour operators and other stakeholders with data, insights, destination information and creative assets in real-time to help build their businesses.
Saudi Tourism Authority now has representative offices in eleven markets serving 21 countries, with an eventual goal of having 15 offices around the world.