Tourism Malaysia targets 1.25mil tourists from China

KUALA LUMPUR: Tourism Malaysia is targeting 1.25 million tourists from China this year, its acting director-general, Datuk Azizan Noordin, said Saturday.

The public looking for bargains at the Matta Fair at PWTC Saturday

He was confident the target could be achieved, looking at the trend, with 1.13 million tourists from China last year and 1.02 million in 2009. The expected increase in arrivals from China has helped to push the target number of tourists to Malaysia from all over the world to 25 million from 24.6 million last year.

Earlier, Azizan witnessed the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents and the Chinese Muslim Travel Association at the Putra World Trade Centre here. Matta was represented by its president, Datuk Mohd Khalid Harun, and CMTA by its vice president, Edward Zheng. The MOC is aimed at enhancing travel and tourism partnership between Malaysia and China.

Meanwhile, Zheng said 'halal tourism' could be a big factor to increase the inbound and outbound tourist traffic between Malaysia and China. "Halal tourism is not only focusing on halal food but giving the best accommodation for Muslim travellers like a place to pray and a tour to interesting Islamic sites," he said. Zheng said China had more than 30,000 mosques and there are four provinces Xinjiang, Ningxia, Gansu and Qinghai which are known as the 'Quran Belt'.

Zheng said that Chinese Muslims were interested in coming to Malaysia because the country is famous for its safe environment, the English and Mandarin used, convenient transport, and spectacular culture, and they want to see the life of the Chinese in Malaysia. 

- Bernama