Tiong proposes aviation, cultural collab with Vietnam for Visit Malaysia Year 2026 - Borneo Post Online (2025)

SIBU (April 12): Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister, Dato Seri Tiong King Sing, has proposed that Saigontourist leverage its aviation resources to help promote Visit Malaysia Year 2026 through aircraft livery advertisements, enhancing visibility among regional travellers.

He also suggested potential collaboration between the group’s tourism vocational schools and Tourism Malaysia to further boost Malaysia’s tourism industry.

“Saigontourist is a well-established group with a wide range of businesses, including hotels, food and beverage, media, aviation, convention centres, and vocational tourism schools, among others.

“During the meeting, I expressed the hope that we could make use of their aircraft resources by placing promotional advertisements on aircraft livery to publicise Visit Malaysia Year 2026.

“I also suggested that their tourism vocational school explore potential collaboration with Tourism Malaysia.

“For example, Malaysia’s National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage (Aswara) is currently planning to expand its training focus beyond arts and culture to include more tourism-related areas, in order to produce more skilled professionals such as housekeeping staff and food service personnel,” he said in a Facebook post today following a meeting and dialogue with Saigontourist and Vietravel today.

Tiong expressed hope that his ministry would gather more valuable insights and feedback from industry stakeholders during the meeting, furthering efforts to increase two-way travel and deepen ties between Malaysia and Vietnam.

Vietravel, a prominent Vietnamese travel agency, holds its own air transport operating license and boasts 40 offices across 24 provinces in Vietnam, along with seven international branches, with plans for further expansion.

During the meeting, it was revealed that 366,525 Vietnamese tourists visited Malaysia in 2024, a slight decline of around two percent compared to the previous year.

Tiong mentioned that Vietravel’s chairman, Nguyen Quoc Ky, had expressed interest in collaborating with AirAsia to enhance travel convenience between the two countries.

Nguyen had also proposed the development of more cultural exchange programmes and seasonal events, highlighting the distinct cultural identities of each Malaysian state.

“They are also looking forward to hosting more Malaysia-themed events in Vietnam, such as ‘Malaysia Night’,” said Tiong.

Tiong added that Vietravel is keen to partner with his ministry and Tourism Malaysia to host these themed events, which would serve as an effective platform to promote Malaysia’s tourism offerings within the Vietnamese market.

“We proposed several practical initiatives during the discussion, using culture, the arts, and gastronomy as vehicles to create more platforms for engagement.

“These can include exhibitions and trade fairs to encourage B2B collaboration between both countries’ industry players, and even the development of special programmes in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year 2026,” he said.

“At the same time, I once again extended a cordial invitation to both companies to organise familiarisation trips to Malaysia, so they may experience first hand the beauty of our country and its rich cultural heritage—and most importantly, to discover unique gems beyond the classic tourist attractions,” Tiong added.