1.1 MLN THAIS VISIT M'SIA IN FIRST NINE MONTHS OF THE YEAR

By D. Arul Rajoo

BANGKOK, Nov 3 (Bernama) -- There was only a slight decrease in the number of Thai tourist arrivals in Malaysia in the first nine months of the year, despite the increase in travel cost, high oil price, economic slowdown and political crisis in the Kingdom.

Iskandar Mirza Mohd Yusof, Tourism Malaysia's senior deputy director
(research and industrial division), said about 1.1 million Thais visited the
country between January and September, as compared to 1.14 million during the
same period last year.

"It was a slight decrease and was basically due to the high oil price which
affected world travelling, and the political situation in Thailand.

"But this is minimal and we hope to target more Thai tourists, with more
promotional programmes being undertaken now," he said after leading a delegation
to participate in the 14th Discovery Thailand and Discovery World expo
here.

He said Malaysia, which received 20.97 million visitors from throughout the
world last year, with tourist receipts of RM46.1 billion (US$13.17 billion), saw
a 14.1 per cent decrease in Thai arrivals from 1.89 million to 1.62 million last
year.

Thailand remained the third biggest market for Malaysia as Singapore again
topped the ranking in the first nine months of this year, with 8.1 million
visitors, followed by Indonesia's 1.7 million.

Iskandar said a survey undertaken by Tourism Malaysia showed that Thai
tourists preferred sight-seeing, visiting cultural and heritage sites, shopping
and soft adventure activities like trekking in places such as Taman Negara
(National Park).