Malaysia wooing more tourists, says minister

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KANGAR: The growth in the country’s tourism sector has made Malaysia a popular tourist destination, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said yesterday.

She said that based on the 2010 World Tourism Organisation report, Malaysia was at ninth place in the world ranking for the countries most visited by international tourists.

“At the Asian level, Malaysia ranks second after China,” she said at a function held in conjunction with the Raja of Perlis’ 68th birthday celebration at the Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Polytechnic near here yesterday.

She expressed confidence of Malaysia attracting 36 million tourists and generating RM168 billion in revenue from the sector in 2020.

Last year, 24.6 million tourists visited Malaysia and contributed RM56.4 billion to the country’s revenue.

On Perlis tourism sector, Ng said that based on the Immigration Department’s record, 779,058 tourists entered the state last year, an increase of 13.7 per cent from 672,393 people in
2009.

She said various programme had been lined-up to attract more tourists to Perlis and they included the ‘D’ Bendang’ festival last month and the Herbs and Spices Royal Garden Tea to be held at the Sungai Batu Pahat Herbal Park on
June 5.

Ng also said the government had allocated RM71 million under the Ninth Malaysia Plan for the implementation of 39 tourism development projects in Perlis.

For the Tenth Malaysia Plan, she said, the ministry had approved four tourism infrastructure projects for Perlis, involving an allocation of RM17 million.

They included upgrading of the Kuala Perlis jetty, costing RM5 million, upgrading of infrastructure at Gua Kelam (RM3 million), improving infrastructure at Kuala Perlis (RM5 million) and beautification of Sungai Perlis and Kuala Sungai Baru (RM4 million), she added. — Bernama