Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur(Photo: kuala-lumpur.ws)
KualaLumpur (VNA) - Malaysia aims to be among the world’s top 10tourist destinations in 2019, said Tourism, Arts and Culture MinisterMohamaddin Ketapi.
Straits Times quoted Mohamaddinas saying that the ministry has undertaken several efforts to promote Malaysiaas a must-visit destination and will set new strategic directions to provide aconducive environment for industry players to drive and boost tourism growth.
“It is our aim to improve the country’s position after being ranked number 12last year. We must be more competitive internationally,” he said.
“We will have good cooperation between federal and state governments to promoteMalaysia and discuss with local airlines companies to have more direct flightsto Malaysia,” he added.
He said the tourism industry in Malaysia has grown significantly and istargeting a foreign tourist arrival goal of 26.4 million with a totalexpenditure of 84.9 billion RM this year.
From January to April 2018, Malaysia recorded 8.4 million international tourists,an increase of 37.2 percent from China, India (21.2 percent), the Republic of Korea(26.5 percent), Canada (28 percent) and the US (23 percent).-VNA
