TOURPLUS INKS MOU WITH CHINA'S CYTS TO TAP INTO POST COVID-19 INBOUND TOURISM MARKET

KUALA LUMPUR, April 27 -- Tourplus Technology Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian travel tech startup inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with ChongQing China Youth Travel Services Co Ltd (CYTS) to tap into the huge potential of post COVID-19 Chinese inbound market into Malaysia.

Tourplus said currently there is a robust rebound in China’s domestic tourism market and the China Tourism Research Institute predicted that in the first half of 2021, the number of domestic tourists will reach 1.722 billion person-trips, and the revenue will reach 1.28 trillion yuan.

On the outbound trend, it noted that looking back at the pre-pandemic era, the market size of Chinese visitors into Malaysia was a massive 3 million on an annual basis.

Chief excutive officer and founder Rickson Goh said the partnership between Tourplus and CYTS is to prepare for post COVID-19 China outbound travellers coming into Malaysia and other ASEAN countries.

“The MoU states that Tourplus will be the tour supplier to CYTS to promote in the China market through both online and offline channels.

“Although historically the pre-COVID market size into the country from China is huge, to start off modestly, we are targeting 100,000 Chinese travellers inbound with a target revenue of RM10 million via this partnership,” he said in a statement.

Goh said Tourplus is also keen to explore potential partnerships with different parties and to look towards potential future opportunities, where travel demand is expected to be extremely high.

“Once borders are open and vaccines are being distributed and people are getting vaccinated, we believe travel demand will soar. 

“As a travel tech company, we are investing a lot more compared to the pre-COVID days to position ourselves with first mover advantage to increase the market share once international travel is allowed,” he shared.

Meanwhile, CYTS chairman Chen Wei Dong said the company sought the opportunity to cooperate with a leading Malaysia-based travel tech, Tourplus, to seize the opportunity of China outbound tourism in the post-COVID era, and better contribute to the “Belt and Road” initiative.

“This collaboration is to kick-start Tourplus’ business development in China. We are looking forward to more Chinese tourists travelling to Malaysia for sightseeing, culture exchange and bringing more business opportunities between the people of China and Malaysia,” he added.

-- BERNAMA