www.nst.com Malaysia is on the right track when it comes to attracting tourists. Since Visit Malaysia Year 2007 was launched on Jan 6, there has been a steady stream of visitors to the country.
Tourism Ministry secretary-general Datuk Dr Victor Wee attributed this to the promotional efforts for the VMY launch and Eye On Malaysia, the huge ferris wheel that reaches a height of 60 metres and which offers magnificent views of Kuala Lumpur.
He said the operatic quartet Il Divo, which kicked off their world tour here on January 16, further brought international attention to Malaysia.
Flora Fest also attracted thousands of visitors with more than 3,000 holiday packages sold for the event.
“Thaipusam is another big event in terms of attracting tourists and so is the Le Tour de Langkawi,” said Wee.
The Asian version of Le Tour De France is from Feb 2-11.
He added: “The Chinese New Year open house in Malacca, to be organised by the Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry, and another planned by the Penang State Government will also be a big crowd puller. We are expecting a lot of Chinese tourists for the open houses.”
Some 50 major events are in the pipeline for VMY07 and these include the popular Colours of Malaysia, the Petronas Malaysian F1 Grand Prix, National Water Festival including the Labuan International Sea Challenge, the Malaysia International Aerospace Exhibition at Subang International Airport and two World Music festivals – in Sarawak and in Penang.
“We are confident of achieving 20.1 million arrivals,” he said. Malaysia hopes to make RM44.5 billion in foreign exchange for VMY07. |