Malaysia upbeat on increased tourist arrivals this year
Malaysia tourism officials are confident of reaching almost 30 million tourist arrivals in 2015, after a year rocked with two tragedies at Malaysia Airlines.
Deputy director-general of promotion at Tourism Malaysia, Datuk Azizan Noordin says the Malaysia Year of Festivals 2015 will help boost visitation to 29.4 arrivals.
"Last year, we targeted 28 million tourist arrivals and until October 2014, we managed to get 22.12 million tourist arrivals," he said at the launch of the International Islamic Trade, Business and Tourism Fair.
Azizan said arrivals from China dropped off significantly in the aftermath of the disappearance of MH370, but recovered in October 2014, posting a 5.2% increase.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared on March 8 en route to Beijing while flight MH17 was downed by a missile over Ukraine on July 17.
He also said the weakening Malaysian Ringgit will also help boost inbound tourism.
"With higher foreign currencies like the Euro, the UK Pound and the Yen, foreign tourists would find that prices of goods are cheaper than before in Kuala Lumpur, which was rated the world’s fourth best shopping haven."
He added that the recently launched visa waiver program for Chinese tourists will also be a major boost ahead of Chinese New Year later this month.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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