Tourism down but Sabah among gainers in Chinese tourists
Published on: Friday, February 12, 2016
Kuala Lumpur: Some 25.7 million tourists visited Malaysia from January to December last year, a drop of about 6.3 per cent from the same period in 2014.However, Tourism Malaysia Promotion Board Deputy Director-General Datuk Azizan Noordin said despite the overall decline, tourist arrivals from China saw an increase of 1.3 per cent. "This shows that our ongoing efforts in capturing the Chinese market have reaped good results," he said, adding that 260 chartered flights from China arrived in Malaysia since September.
ADVERTISEMENT
"The chartered flights cover popular destinations in the country, including Langkawi, Penang, Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur," he said at the 4th Malaysian In-bound Tourism Association (Mita) Lion Dance Show at Malaysia Tourism and Information Centre (Matic) here.Azizan said Tourism Malaysia had embarked on promotional activities in South Korea and Japan, while efforts to promote Malaysia in other countries had also been increased. "In January, we sent delegations to India and took part in the Asean Travel Forum in the Philippines. "We have also embarked on promotional activities in Scan-dinavian countries, such as Fin-land and Sweden."
ADVERTISEMENT
He said more than 400 promotional activities were carried out every year. This year, he said, Tourism Malaysia has lined up more than 250 programmes to attract some 30.5 million tourists.
ADVERTISEMENT
They include cultural programmes Citrawarna, Putrajaya Floria (The Royal Floral Show), Motor Grand Prix, sales cam-paigns, eco-tourism initiatives and entertainment events such as the Sarawak Rainforest World Music Festival. Azizan also announced that the Formula One race would now take place on Oct 2 and Motor GP on Oct 31. "We will promote ac-tivities for a number of motor sports events, including the World Superbike Series, which will be in the second half of the year," he said, adding that the events were to attract more tourists. "We hope to achieve our target of 36 million tourists by 2020," Azizan said, adding that Tourism Malaysia would add new products to boost tourist arrivals. He said theme parks, such as Legoland in Johor Baru, Animation Theme Park in Ipoh and 21st Century Fox Theme Park in Genting Highlands would be some of Malaysia's top attractions. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
