Malaysia: Good fur business

Selling a holiday to Malaysia?  The destination has wide appeal, and is particularly suited to nature lovers and honeymooners. The destination sustained minimal tsunami damage and is wide open for business as usual. But don’t just take our word for it – read what tour operators have to say and use these ideas to entice your clients.

Where: Langkawi has to be top of everyone’s list for romance. Secluded beaches, coral coves, lagoons and stunning resorts set the scene for a truly exotic honeymoon. Recent changes in legislation have made getting married in Malaysia somewhat easier. Penang is a popular choice to tie the knot – in particular at the Shangri-La and Eastern and Orient hotels, as well as the beach resorts of Kota Kinabalu in Sabah.

Operator view: Sovereign Worldwide product manager Jennie Ferguson said: “Malaysia is among our top three honeymoon destinations. It’s so varied and attractive it appeals to everyone’s tastes. Nature is quite a draw – honeymoons don’t necessarily mean just sitting on a beach.

A lot of our tours combine cities with islands, for example Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi. We can also do a Kuala Lumpur stopover plus a choice of resorts such as the Datai, a spa and golf retreat which is idyllic for honeymooners. Other top resorts include the Tanjung Rhu and Pelangi Beach in Langkawi and the Shangri-Las in Sabah in Borneo.”

Sample product: Sovereign Worldwide has five nights’ room-only at the Pangkor Laut Resort on a Romantic Interlude Honeymoon package from £1,177 per person in May. It includes flights, a flower bath with champagne, a sunset cruise with dinner, dinner on the rocks at Emerald Bay, and an ultimate experience at the Belian Pavilion Spa Village.

Where: Sipadan, a speedboat ride away from Sabah’s west coast, has been voted top diving destination by BBC Holiday, and the designated marine park Redang has coral reefs galore.

Spa enthusiasts can tend their needs at a whole host of resorts including the Magellan Sutera Harbour, Nexus Resort on Kota Kinabalu, the Mandara Spa at the Datai and the Andaman and Jamu Nature Spa, both on Langkawi, the Pangkor Laut Resort and at Tanjong Jara on Terengganu.

Golfers have more than 350 courses at their disposal – some designer – carved out of jungles, palm and rubber plantations and encompassing highlands, beaches, islands and cities. For real enthusiasts there’s even night golfing at Glenmarie in Kuala Lumpur or at Sutera Harbour resort in Kota Kinabalu, which was the official headquarters for the Survivor television programme.

Operator view: Malaysia Experience product and marketing manager Tracey Andrews said: “Malaysia’s attractions include beautiful beaches and scenery, culture, soft adventure, delicious food and bargain shopping with a wide choice of accommodation to suit all budgets. Our new and expanded brochure features examples of multi-centre holiday options based on diverse themes such as the Borneo Wildlife and Tribe Experience and Romantic Malaysia.”

Sample product: Malaysia Experience sells the Nexus Resort, on a peninsula 30 minutes’ drive from Kota Kinabalu. The resort has a spa and 18-hole golf course, and diving and snorkelling is available in the resort’s lagoon park. Prices lead in at £809 per person for five nights’ twin-share.

Where: an hour’s flight from Kuala Lumpur, with its large beachfront resort hotels, Penang is the perfect destination for families looking to relax without having to break the bank.

Four and even five-star hotels are affordable compared with the UK. Most offer kids’ clubs, and facilities such as swimming pools and restaurants are of a very high standard.

The legacy of Malaysia’s status as a former colony – it is largely English-speaking and left-hand drive, for example – are an added bonus. Langkawi in the north also offers good beaches and a wide choice of hotels along with golf courses, duty-free shopping and one of Asia’s largest aquariums, Underwater World.

Operator view: Travel 2 Far East product manager Zoe Tasker said: “Malaysia is particularly well suited to the family market as it is a very safe destination, there are plenty of tours and activities suited to young kids and many hotels offer fantastic children’s clubs and often unique family-orientated room types. The increase in our family market prompted us to introduce a Family Friendly section on Penang and Langkawi to assist agents selecting a suitable property for families.”

Sample product: Holiday Inn Penang has a free kids’ club and suites catering for up to three children equipped with PlayStations, videos and televisions. Travel 2 has a special offer of £18 per person, per night twin-share, with a ‘stay 14 nights, pay for 10’ deal between April and December.

Where: more than half of Malaysia’s land mass is covered in forest and the country is home to more than 600 species of bird. Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo lays claim to vast areas of virgin rainforest and enough tropical flora and fauna to keep David Attenborough in documentaries for months. Journey by longboat through the jungle to a tribal longhouse before popping over to Sabah, home to Mount Kinabalu and the Sepilok orang-utan sanctuary.

Taman Negara National Park, a 30-million-year-old jungle, offers canopy walkways, panoramic views and nocturnal jungle walks.

Operator view: Premier Holidays head of Faraway product David Carlaw said: “Malaysia has top-class resorts and fine beaches, but is increasingly known for its nature product. Clients like being able to combine nature with the beach or a city stay. Borneo in particular has nature in abundance, the orang-utans are the main reason people visit and feeding time at the sanctuary is an amazing sight. The Selingan turtle hatchery is another natural highlight.”

Sample product: Premier Holidays offers a 13-day Journey to Borneo tour from £1,265 per person, including flights and most meals. A two-day Turtles and Orang-utans add-on from Kota Kinabalu starts at £175 per person, and includes a one-hour boat ride to the ‘turtle island’ of Selingan and a visit to the Sepilok sanctuary.

Where: Asia does luxury spectacularly well and Malaysia, making maximum use of its spectacular natural environment, is no exception. Few islands are more idyllic than Pangkor and neighbouring privately owned Pangkor Laut, where a half-mile sweep of beach is considered one of the best on the west coast. And don’t forget the luxury Eastern and Orient Express train which calls in at Butterworth en route from Bangkok to Singapore.

Operator view: Magic of the Orient managing director Tony Champion said: “Luxury in Malaysia is actually very affordable as the destination offers such good value for money and standards are exceptionally high. Staff are friendly and the country boasts some of the top hotels in the region – all in wonderful locations. Seclusion away from it all is key – for example in Langkawi, the Datai is surrounded only by jungle and Tanjung Rhu sits alone on a stunning white-sand beach. Tanjung Jara is in a secluded bay on Pangkor Laut.”

Sample product: a week at the five-star Tanjung Rhu in September or October starts at £1,045 per person twin-share, including flights. A week at the five-star Datai, where some rooms feature private plunge pools, starts at £1,192 with Magic of the Orient.