KUALA LUMPUR: The business events industry will help Malaysia achieve its new target of 9.2 million tourist arrivals with RM26.8bil in tourism receipts this year, says Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri (pic).
The Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister said 79 business events are in the calendar in the second half of this year, and these include the Malaysia Business Events Week and World Tourism Conference in Sabah.
Besides that, she said aggressive efforts to increase tourist arrivals from India and Brunei would also boost the country’s tourism sector.
“We are optimistic and confident of reaching this target. For example, Malaysia will receive around 500 tourists from India this month,” she said yesterday, Bernama reported.
Earlier, Nancy witnessed a memorandum of collaboration (MOC) signing between Tourism Malaysia and Qatar Airways with the primary objective of extending networking and strengthening strategic cooperation.
The minister also said Malaysia was looking forward to China’s border reopening in October because the country is the highest international tourists contributor so far.
She said the ministry was optimistic about achieving higher numbers of tourist arrivals especially with the country easing its Covid-19 standard operating procedure, making Malaysia one of the most hassle-free countries for travellers.
“We have surpassed the initial target of two million international tourist arrivals since the reopening of borders in April with RM8.6bil in tourism receipts,” she said, adding that the ministry would revise the target to 9.2 million international tourists this year.
On the MOC with Qatar Airways, Nancy said the collaboration would help to strengthen Malaysia’s appeal as a preferred travel destination among travellers from the Middle East, Europe and the United States.
“I strongly believe that this promotional collaboration will contribute to increase the air traffic flow from the medium-haul and long-haul markets to Malaysia while providing a five-star experience to tourists who choose Malaysia as a travel destination through the service offered by Qatar Airways,” she said.