Malaysia is aiming to attract 20 million visitors and $12 billion (Dh44bn) in tourism earning in 2007, according to a top official.
The country has become a popular destination for the Middle East tourism, especially from the Gulf, Malaysia Tourism Director to the Middle East and Iran Tuan Razali Tuan Omar said.
Malaysia has been aiming to attract more than 300,000 Arab tourists in 2007.
The figure has been calculated following a year-long tourism promotional campaign, which is the largest that the agency has organised in the past 20 years.
"We are organising the campaign dubbed 'Visit Malaysia 2007', which seeks to attract an additional number of travellers from this region.
"The total number of tourist arrivals in Malaysia reached 16.43 million in 2005, resulting in earnings of $8.72bn (Dh32bn)," he said.
In 2006, Malaysia received a total of 17.5 million tourists and it seeks to increase that figure to 20 million this year. Inbound tourism from the Middle East last year was around 190,000 tourists.
The promotion was also launched this year to mark a significant milestone in the history of Malaysia as it celebrates 50 years of independence from the British rule.
"This year, we have made various arrangements to attract tourists from the Middle East region. One of our initiatives was to strengthen partnership with more than 240 tour agencies in the Gulf.
"The number of UAE nationals visiting Malaysia grew by 40 per cent to 29,606 in 2005, according to Tourism Malaysia statistics. With 53,000 tourists, Saudi Arabia remained the most important market for Malaysia." Malaysia is holding a region-wide promotional campaign to attract visitors during this summer holiday season. The country is making aggressive efforts to proj ect a tourist-friendly image, especially for those from Arabic-speaking countries.
"Arabs and GCC nationals do not require visas to travel to Malaysia, and can stay up to three months after arriving in the country and at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. We have encouraged employment of more Arabicspeaking staff at travel agen cies and hotels and urged shopping complexes to put up signs in Arabic," Tuan said.
Malaysia has also launched a "Feel-at-Home" campaign to target Middle East tourists.
By Emirates Today Staff
© Emirates Today 2007
