The Pearl of the Orient continues to draw a good and healthy number of visitors. Penang recorded a slight increase in tourist arrivals by air last year, up 1.1%.
State tourism development and culture committee chairman Danny Law Heng Kiang said an additional 6,699 foreign tourists flew into Penang International Airport last year compared to 2011.
“August recorded the highest number of arrivals with 66,531 foreign tourists. “December was the second most popular month with 63,631 flying in.
Indonesians topped the ranking with 234,703 tourists visiting the island in 2012, making up 10% of the country’s total 2,382,606 visitors. Singapore and China came in second and third with 98,777 and 43,676 tourists respectively.
Other countries that made it to the list of the top 10 were Japan, US, Taiwan, Australia, Thailand, UK and India. “Penang is the country’s third most popular destination after Kuala Lumpur and Pahang,” said Law.
Malaysian visitors from other states continue to flock to Penang. “Domestic airport arrivals rose by 2.47% with an increase of 29,995 tourists from other states,” he said.
Law added that statistics from the Ministry of Tourism showed that tourists in the state from January until June grew to 1.881 million from 1.872 million during the same period last year.
He said the Immigration Department had been recording arrivals based on nationality instead of country of residence since August last year. Visitors from other Commonwealth countries, East Europe and non-Commonwealth countries recorded a whopping increase of 310%, 311% and 300% respectively.
-thestar online.
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