Malaysia tourism office in Chennai focuses on Sri Lanka
The Morning: Despite the global uncertainty brought on by the ongoing war in the Middle East, the Malaysian tourism office in Chennai sees an opportunity in promoting Malaysia among Sri Lankan outbound travellers, Tourism Malaysia Chennai Director Hishamuddin Bin Mustafa said, speaking to the Daily Morning Business about the Tourism Board of Malaysia’s ongoing ‘Visit Malaysia 2026’ campaign.
“We’re based in Chennai, working out of the South India office. Whatever happened around us this year, people still travel. We are promoting new package tours to Malaysia, to particular destinations like Kuala Lumpur, Genting, Malacca, Penang, and Langkawi,” Mustafa said.
“The South Indian and Sri Lankan market are similar. Most tourists from Sri Lanka and India, typically visit KL (Kuala Lumpur), Genting Highlands – which are happening places. We are looking at Sri Lanka as one of our important markets, from the region, as travellers they contribute a lot.”
According to Tourism Malaysia’s official dashboard available online, Malaysia saw its highest number of Sri Lankan tourists in 2025, with 77,020 arrivals recorded during the year. So far, according to Mustafa and the official data portal, the country has seen roughly around 25,123 arrivals from Sri Lanka this year.
“Why promote Malaysia for Sri Lankans? It’s because of flying time, the duration is only around four hours, also it is affordable. We are promoting sight-seeing, family vacations, MICE category tourism and student individual and group travel. We are looking to promote homestays for students, where they can visit for a budget price and have an immersive experience in a different culture,” Mustafa said.
Expanding on the promotion of student travel, Mustafa said that the office sees a potential for homestays and group travel promotion among Sri Lankan students. “Our homestays have mainly targeted students from Singapore, Japan, Saudi Arabia. We want to tap into the student market in Sri Lanka. There’s tourist destination spots like Kuala Lumpur and Genting Highlands that can be visited, with packages mainly targeting the budget capacities of students.”
“Between January to May we have seen roughly around 25,000 arrivals from Sri Lanka, and our target this year, under ‘Visit Malaysia 2026’ is 100,000 arrivals. Last year, our total arrivals from Sri Lanka was in the 64,000 range, so we want to boost arrivals under this tourism promotion campaign.” Mustafa said.
According to Tourism Malaysia, so far the total arrivals for the year is roughly around 17.5 million (17,513,742), 40% of the total arrivals seen in 2025, which was roughly around 42.2 million.
Typically, Malaysia’s top course markets are ASEAN neighbor countries, looking for long-haul travel within the region. In the South Asian region, India remains a dominant feeder market.
OSL take:
Malaysia’s renewed focus on the Sri Lankan outbound travel market presents an opportunity to deepen two-way tourism cooperation while opening new avenues for foreign investment in Sri Lanka’s expanding tourism industry. As Tourism Malaysia intensifies its “Visit Malaysia 2026” campaign in Sri Lanka, the growing flow of travellers between the two countries could pave the way for stronger airline connectivity, joint destination marketing, twin-country holiday packages and increased collaboration between tour operators, hotels and travel technology providers. Such partnerships have the potential to boost visitor arrivals to both destinations while strengthening Sri Lanka’s position as a regional tourism partner. The continued recovery of Sri Lanka’s tourism sector, supported by rising arrivals and government efforts to attract higher-value visitors, is creating business/investment opportunities for foreign businesses/investors across the hospitality value chain. Investment prospects are expanding in hotels and resorts, boutique accommodation, wellness and medical tourism, eco-tourism, marina and cruise tourism, MICE facilities, destination management services, digital travel platforms and tourism-related infrastructure. Growing regional travel demand, coupled with Sri Lanka’s strategy of diversifying source markets and enhancing tourism offerings, is also encouraging investment in sustainable tourism projects, leisure experiences and integrated tourism developments. As regional tourism cooperation strengthens, foreign businesses/investors have an opportunity to establish a presence in a sector that is increasingly positioned for long-term growth and greater connectivity across South and Southeast Asia.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20260805Z_2 |