Malaysia’s target for 2018 is 33.1mil visitors

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is targeting 33.1 million tourist arrivals for next year, the Tourism and Culture Ministry said.

This year, Malaysia received some 17.34 million tourist arrivals from January till August.

The tourist receipts from January until June this year rose 1.8%, contributing RM31.8bil to the nation’s revenue.

“The ministry has a target of 31.8 million tourist arrivals for this year, with tourist receipts of RM118bil,” the ministry’s secretary-eneral Datuk Rashidi Hasbullah said in a statement yesterday.

Tourism also comes third in terms of contribution to the gross national income, he said.

Rashidi added that tourism has been identified as one of the 12 National Key Economic Areas to “propel the country’s economic transformation”.

-thestar online.