Malaysia’s Minister of Tourism, YB Dato’ Sri Dr. Ng Yen Yen, has launched the 1Malaysia Year-End Sale. The 1MYES, which will be held until 1st January 2013, aims to encourage shoppers from all over the world to visit Malaysia to celebrate the last two months of the year with a fabulous shopping experience.
One of three major shopping seasons in the country, 1MYES is the end-of-year shopping event that ends the year in style. The 1Malaysia GP Sale coincides with the Formula One Grand Prix in KL in March and the 1Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival is held during the summer holidays.
Shopping, a lucrative sector of Malaysia’s tourism industry, holds the second biggest share of tourist expenditure after accommodation. Last year, tourists spent RM17.5 billion (€4.5 billion) on shopping which constituted 30% of the total receipts of RM58.3 billion (€14.9 billion). It recorded a growth of 8% against the figure in 2010. In 2000, when the first Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival was organised, shopping only constituted 23.1% of total tourist expenditures.
The shopping malls will host numerous exciting events to make Malaysia the place to go for shopping, fashion and food throughout November and December. In Kuala Lumpur, the Sungei Wang Plaza shopping mall will offer its visitors a chance to win a pair of Yoga Lin Concert tickets while the Kenanga Wholesale City will organise a treasure hunt to challenge its shoppers.
The Mines shopping mall in Seri Kembangan, Selangor, will run a competition to win a two-day, one-night stay for four at the Golden Palm Villa in Sepang, a gold set from Poh Kong and other prizes. In Penang, a Garfield and Friends Meet & Greet will take place at the Queensbay Mall while the 1st Avenue mall invites shoppers to participate in a kolam design competition to get into the spirit of Deepavali. The East Coast Mall in Kuantan, Pahang has workshops for Christmas clay doll painting, Christmas card decoration, Christmas origami and New Year card design for its visitors. The Boulevard shopping mall and the Imperial mall in Sarawak will entice its visitors with the ‘Buy & Fly!’ Lucky Draw Contest that offers return tickets to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea.
MasterCard cardholders will get the opportunity to walk away with instant redemptions and exciting competition prizes at participating malls in Malaysia.
Kuala Lumpur has been ranked the second best shopping destination in Asia Pacific by the latest Global Shopper Index. The report said that Kuala Lumpur’s specific strength is its ability to combine low prices with a good range of products in a large number of stores.
Positioning Malaysia as a duty-free shopping destination for tourist goods is one of the three Entry Point Projects undertaken to increase shopping receipts to 35% by 2020, under the Malaysia Tourism Transformation Plan.
Imported goods that are not subject to custom duty at all are readily available all over the country and not limited to duty-free zones. Aside from five categories of products – cars, glasswares, cigarettes, alcohol and chocolates – all other products are tax exempted in Malaysia. This move is part of the Malaysian Government’s efforts to enhance the country’s position as a destination for duty-free shopping. Through this effort, Malaysia hopes to attract a wider range of principal brands to invest in the country. It also facilitates lower and more competitive pricing of imported merchandise, giving Malaysian retailers a competitive edge over retailers in other countries.
