Malaysia expects middle eastern tourists

KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 (Bernama) -- Malaysia expects more tourist arrivals
from middle eastern countries despite some of them having problems currently,
said Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen.

Although the ministry could not set any target on the number of arrivals
from countries concerned, she hoped that it would be more than 320,000 arrivals
this year.

She said that Malaysia recorded 322,000 arrivals from the middle east last
year and each tourist had spent around RM7,400 (US$2,466) during their visit.

"The middle east tourists tend to spend more, stay longer and do more
shopping compared to other tourists," she told a press conference at the Al-Amar
Lebanese Restaurant, here Monday.

Ng said that overall, the ministry's record showed that Arab tourists spent
RM2.36 billion ((US$0.786 billion) last year.

"We hope the market will go up. In fact, the ministry is doing lots of
promotional programmes for the middle eastern market through advertisements in
CNN, websites and the local Arab televisions.

"Apart from advertisements, the ministry is using its tourism directors in
Dubai, Jeddah and Iran to promote Malaysia's tourism products," she said.

Earlier, she launched The Arab Ramadan Festival themed "The Blessings Of
Ramadan, 1Malaysia" to be held during Ramadan at i-City in Shah Alam.