Gulf Air and Tourism Malaysia signed an agreement to jointly promote Malaysia’s 50 years of nationhood. The agreement, signed by Gulf Air and Tourism Malaysia, comes after last year’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two sides to set up a task force to seek ways to jointly promote “Visit Malaysia”.

Malaysia is an extremely popular destination for tourists from the Middle East and over the years the country has been witnessing a steady increase in the number of tourists’ arrivals from the region, says Gulf Air General Manager Bahrain Abdulmalik Al Saei.

Malaysia received as many as 12,404,377 tourists between Jan and July 2007, a 24 % jump over the same period last year.

Around 130, 000 tourists from the Middle East and Iran visited Malaysia in the first half this year, up nearly 42 percent when compared with the same period last year.

Visitors from Bahrain alone jumped 24.4 percent higher to 3,246 in the first seven months this year up from 2,610 during the same period in 2006.

Gulf Air’s Head of Marketing Peter Rothel says the airline is eager to tap into the influx.

Gulf Air has been flying to Kuala Lumpur for years and with the strongest network in the Middle East, the airline is best positioned to cooperate with Tourism Malaysia, says Gulf Air Head of Marketing Peter Rothel adding that the airline has lined up very attractive offers as part of the campaign.

Gulf Air, which operates daily flights to Malaysia, has slashed prices to 149 BHD for a roundtrip (Bahrain-Kuala Lumpur-Bahrain) starting October and until the end of the year.

The campaign is timely as it gives visitors the opportunity to attend world-class events and festivals taking place in Malaysia over the next three months, adds Mr. Rothel.

Malaysian officials have welcomed the tie up with Gulf Air, which is the most established carrier in the region, and the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Events coming up during the next three months are the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix (19 October-21 October) featuring the world’s greatest riders, Malaysian International Gourmet Festival (2 November- 29 November) which is the country’s premier gastronomic event featuring the world’s best chefs and the Malaysia Year End Sale Carnival (1 December 2007 to 1 January 2008) offering great bargains.