Today Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), announced a partnership and signed an agreement with Tourism Malaysia to attract visitors from Europe and the Middle East to Malaysia, via the airlines of Abu Dhabi. The agreement between the two organizations was signed at the World Travel Market in London, attended by representatives from both organizations and trade partners.

Senior Vice President Destination and Leisure Management, Etihad Aviation Group, Hareb Almuhairy, commented, "Tourism Malaysia has been a proud partner of Etihad’s for many years and Kuala Lumpur remains one of the most important destinations in our global network. The Southeast Asian country continues to be a popular choice for travelers in the UK and Europe as well as the Middle East, and visitors will benefit from the convenient connection through Abu Dhabi."

Datuk Musa Hj Yusof, Director General, Tourism Malaysia, said, "The campaign aims to welcome tourists from Europe, Middle East and beyond to Malaysia as well as to promote the Visit Malaysia 2020 initiative, which seeks to attract 30 million tourists and around RM 100 billion (GBP 18.56 billion) in tourism receipts by the year 2020."

The agreement is basically signed to support the tourism board’s Visit Malaysia 2020 promotional campaign which has been developed in order to encourage the tourism of the country from Europe and the Middle East to Malaysia.