TOURISM MINISTRY TARGETS 650,000 INDIAN VISITORS IN 2010

By P. Vijian

NEW DELHI, March 10 (Bernama) -- The Tourism Ministry has again upped it
mark for tourists arrivals from India, hoping to pull in 650,000 visitors to
Malaysia this year.

With budget carrier AirAsia making plans to fly to more major Indian cities
later this year and the swelling in outbound travel in India, tourism officials
are optimistic that the new target can be easily achieved.

"India is a main growth market and the country's outbound travel is booming.
With AirAsia scheduled to fly to major cities soon, we can achieve a 10 percent
growth without any problems," Mirza Mohammad Taiyab Beg, Director-General
of Tourism Malaysia, told the media here.

Despite the global economic recession last year, tourist arrivals from India
were at a record figure of 589,838.

After China, India is the second top tourism generating market for Malaysia
in the region.

Mirza is currently leading a mission to six cities in India -- Ahemdabad,
Bangalore, Cochin, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai -- to promote Malaysia
extensively.

The Tourism Ministry will also focus more on emerging second tier cities in
India, where outbound travel is steadily rising, largely spurred by the
increasing economic wealth.

Over 23 million visitors from around the globe landed on Malaysian shores
last year.

--BERNAMA



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