Arrivals Set To Surpass Target

By Vasantha Ganesan and Presenna Nambiar

KUALA LUMPUR: Tourist arrivals and receipts this are expected to surpass the government's projection and hit a new record of over 22 million and RM50 billion respectively, despite the global recession.

Given this surprise showing, the forecast for 2010 is 23 million tourists spending a total of RM52 billion.

Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said that in the first 11 months of this year, 21.51 million foreign tourists entered the country, a 7.6 per cent increase over the same period last year.

Strong support came from Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Brunei. Strong arrivals were also recorded from China, India, Australia and the United Kingdom.

With one more month to go and December being traditionally the strongest month, arrivals may well surpass the 22 million record arrivals set in 2008.

Last December, 2.058 million tourists came to Malaysia. If this and the latest November figures, which were up by 11 per cent to 2.048 million, are anything to go by, this year will be a bumper year.

Earlier in the year, the projected number of tourist arrivals was revised downwards to 20 million, and with the influenza A (H1N1) outbreak in May, it was again revised to 19 million.

"In 2010, the economy may still be bumpy.

"Barring any unforeseen circumstances such as terrorist attacks, political instability or natural disasters, we could receive more than 23 million tourists and we foresee RM52 billion in foreign exchange earnings," Ng said yesterday after the launch of the Naza Group's newly-rebranded hotels, Naza Talyya Hotels.

Next year Tourism Malaysia, the marketing arm of the ministry, will focus its promotion in Asean, followed by China, other parts of Asia and selected European countries.

On the impact of the Dubai debt crisis on Malaysia, especially since Middle Eastern per capita spending is the highest, Ng said :"We are watching the Arab market carefully ... but we do not expect any big impact as their numbers are small."