TARGET OF 24 MLN TOURIST ARRIVALS THIS YEAR ACHIEVABLE, SAYS M'SIAN DPM

KOTA KINABALU (Sabah, Malaysia), Oct 4 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is confident of
achieving the target of 24 million tourist arrivals this year, said Deputy Prime
Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Muhyiddin said the tourism sector has maintained sustainable growth over the
past 10 years.

In 1999, it recorded 7.9 million tourist arrivals and collected RM12.3
bill ion (US$3.96 billion) in receipts, he said.

"By 2009, the number of tourist arrivals nearly tripled to 23.6 million and
receipts more than quadrupled to RM53.4 billion.

"This is a milestone for the nation as it translates into a revenue of RM1
billion (US$325 million) per week," he said at the opening of the World Tourism
Conference 2010 here Monday.

He said with the encouraging performance this year, the country was
confident of maintaining the uptrend.

Muhyiddin said the government would boost economic growth in 12 National Key
Economic Areas (NKEAs) under the 10th Malaysia Plan to transform the country
into a high-income nation.

"One of the NKEAs is the tourism industry which has an immense potential as
a key driver in the country's economic growth," he said.

The deputy prime minister said the NKEA initiative was encapsulated in the
Tourism Transformation Plan, which set a target of 36 million tourists to get a
revenue of RM168 billion (US$54.19 billion) by 2020.

"Towards this end, various themes had been identified under the NKEA
initiative namely, affordable luxury, family fun, events, entertainment, spa and
sports, business tourism and nature adventure.

"These themes set the framework for development, taking into consideration
the needs and demands of different market segments, particularly to attract the
high-spending tourists," he said.

He said the tourism industry was also expected to receive a boost from
strategic infrastructure and skills development in other NKEAs such as
healthcare initiatives and the Greater Kuala Lumpur plan.

Muhyiddin said innovation was the main ingredient to transform the tourism
industry to optimise its potential to support the New Economic Model.

"Malaysia is in the forefront to initiate creative approaches and ideas to
develop new products and also to re-brand and value-add traditional products by
focusing on the development of innovative products," he said.
-- BERNAMA