MALAYSIA AMONG FAVOURITE COUNTRIES FOR CHINESE TOURISTS

PUTRAJAYA, June 25 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is among the favourite countries
and destinations for Chinese tourists, said Malaysian Ambassador to China Syed
Norulzaman Syed Kamarulzaman.

He said this because of the historical and cultural relationship, the
familiarity with Malaysian culture, the quality of its products and good value
for money.

"They feel comfortable here because there are some similarities in culture,
and they like to shop, and we are a shopping paradise.

"Last year's 950,000 arrivals from China was 20-21 per cent higher than the
previous year.

"We have targeted one million Chinese tourists this year," he told Bernama
at the 7th Heads of Mission Conference here.

The six-day conference held at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre
(PICC) was opened by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak last Monday.

In an interview with China's CCTV's 'Toptalk' show which was aired by Astro
Awani television channel last week, Najib said he wanted to see more Chinese
visiting Malaysia so that Malaysia would be better known to them.

Syed Norulzaman said the popularity of Malaysia among the Chinese was also
due to on-going promotional activities in China.

On the Malaysian Association of Foreign Maid Agencies (Papa) urging the
Government to allow Malaysians to employ maids from China, he said at the
moment, there was no such proposal for the embassy to look into.

Currently, the Government does not allow Malaysians to employ maids from
China but it is understood that 17 maids from China had been employed under
a special request from employers.

-- BERNAMA