Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen
BUTTERWORTH: Malaysia is confident to achieve the target of 25 million tourist arrivals by end of this year, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said.
She said based on the ministry’s latest statistics, the number of tourist arrivals in Malaysia had reached 24.7 million as at Monday.
“The statistics also show that the country’s income has increased by RM1.1 billion per week as they (tourists) are spending about RM164 million daily in Malaysia.”
She said this at a special ceremony to present an allocation of RM110,000 to 16 associations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Bagan parliamentary constituency here yesterday.
Dr Ng, who is also Penang MC chairman, said the amount presented yesterday was just a part of the total allocation of RM500,000 for the development of associations and NGOs approved by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin during his recent visit to Bagan.
“The rest of the allocation will be distributed in the near future,” she said.
On another development, Dr Ng said she was confident that Barisan Nasional (BN) would be able to win back the state, which currently under the opposition, at the next general election.
“We will not let the opposition parties retain their power in Penang at the next general election. MCA and other BN component parties will come together to challenge them (opposition). I believe BN can win,” she added. — Bernama