Malaysia
Ministry to target 'high quality' tourists
PETALING JAYA: The Tourism Ministry will be targeting more "high quality" tourists this year in an effort to boost the country's tourism industry, said its deputy minister Donald Lim.
The Ministry hopes to target these tourists who spend RM4,000 to RM5,000 and who do not create problems to the country, he said.
To increase the number of tourists in this category, the ministry hopes to target more tourists from the Middle East, eastern China, Korea and Japan, he said.
Quality tourists also include the 5% of tourists who are here for meetings and it is hoped that the percentage will increase to 8% this year, said Lim after launching the Chinese Calligraphy and Painting Exhibition by famous artists from China here.
The Ministry hopes to increase tourists from other parts of Asia and the world from 15% in each category to 20% and reduce tourists from South-East Asia from 70% to 60%, he said.
"We are targeting 25.5 million tourists for this year and hope to bring in foreign revenue of RM50bil," he said.
It is also hoped that the average stay will increase to eight nights from last year's 6.7 nights, he said.
By 2010, the ministry hopes to achieve half of the tourists from SEA and the rest from other parts of the world, he said.
thestar.com.my
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