13 Million Tourists Visited Malaysia As At End-June

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 (Bernama) -- The government is targetting to attract 30.5 million tourists in 2016 and as at end-June this year, a total of 13 million tourists had visited Malaysia. To boost and energise the industry, various programmes were implemented including Malaysia Inbound Tourism Association (MITA) Tourism Fair 2016 and Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) Fair 2016. According to the Economic Report 2016/17 released by the Finance Ministry Friday, as at end-August a total of US$2 million (RM8.4 million) was spent on these programmes. Another initiative to attract tourists is the online visa application system which was implemented on March 1, this year, at a cost of US$143,346 (RM600,000). (US$1 = RM4.18) The e-visa is available for nationals of Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Taiwan. As at end-August, a total of 113,930 e-Visa applications were processed. -- BERNAMA