ABSTRACT
The tourism industry has become one of the important industries in all countries worldwide, including Malaysia, as it has contributed directly to 5 per cent of the world’s GDP and become an important vehicle to boost economic and social activities. Malaysia is a green and beautiful country located on the line of Khatulistiwa in Southeast Asia Region that experiences sunny and rainy weather throughout the year. Malaysia is acknowledged as one of the best places to visit among international tourists as it offers a variety of tourism events throughout the year, every year. This chapter intends to discuss the most innovative and popular events from four territories in Peninsular Malaysia, namely south, north, east and central region. Each of these regions has its own unique tourism events that attract local and foreign tourists. It is expected that the number of tourists entering Malaysia is increasing year by year, and it is predicted to receive about 1.4 billion by 2020 and expected to reach 1.8 billion by year 2030. This multiple case study employs a qualitative research approach using contextual and content analysis. Themes and patterns across data will be created and analysed. With the emergence of high technology trends in the 21st century, digitalisation and mobile marketing become the main factor in promoting tourism activities. From the analysis, findings show that the central region is the most prevalent place to conduct MICE tourism, followed by North, South and East region. South region are the most prevalent places for the festivals. This chapter offers substantial understanding of tourism events in four main states from four regions in Peninsular Malaysia, namely Terengganu, Kedah, Kuala Lumpur and Malacca. Discussion from this study will not only be beneficial to the tourism industry players, tourists, transportation industry and policy makers, but it will also be beneficial to the research scholar with providing a future research roadmap that scholars could focus on in Malaysia and any other Asian countries.
