Malaysia Sets a Higher Target for 2008
East Malaysia is a popular destination for travellers and adventurers looking for ecotourism. The recent arrival statistics to Malaysia for 2007 has been encouraging, beating the initial target by a small margin. This year, there will be a stronger emphasis to promote Sipadan, which according to Director of Tourism Malaysia Sydney, Shahrin Mokhtar, is an amazing dive site that is often said to be one of the best diving sites in the world.
Malaysia has set a higher target for tourist arrivals in 2008 following revelations that figures for 2007 far exceeded expectations.
Tourism Malaysia is now working on achieving a 22.5 million visitor target for this year – about five percent more than the original target of 21.5 million for 2008.
Director of Tourism Malaysia Sydney, Shahrin Mokhtar, says the success of Visit Malaysia Year 2007 was reflected by final year-end figures of 20.884 million visitors to the country, exceeding the initial target of 20.1 million for the year.
“2008 will see improvements and additions to our tourism campaign to woo both new and returning visitors to Malaysia,” says Shahrin.
“In a country as diverse as Malaysia, we will not only aim to highlight our different cultures and events, but also place an equally vital emphasis on the diverse destinations.
“We will be promoting East Malaysia quite heavily this year as there is so much there that many Australians are unaware of. Examples include Mount Kinabalu in Sabah which is relatively an easy climb that takes only two days to get to the peak and back; or Sipadan which is an amazing dive site that is often said to be one of the best diving sites in the world.
“Another spectacular example is the tribes in Sarawak. Malaysia’s own ‘little Amazon’ where real-life head hunters still live in the thick jungles of Borneo and it’s less than 10 hours to get to from any port in Australia.
“There is a lot more to Malaysia than the very popular shopping and nightlife scenes in KL,” says Shahrin.
Lonely Planet has listed Malaysia as its top pick for 2008, noting one of the national parks - Taman Negara – as the oldest in the world, where none of the Ice Ages had any effect; and where volcanic activity and other geological upheavals make it a truly unique place on earth. It was also highlighted that Malaysia is the 2nd most competitive price country in the region.
Source: e-Travel Blackboard