Record 30 million tourists expected in Malaysia in 2020

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

On Wednesday a tourism official mentioned that Malaysia expects a record 30 million tourists this year by redirecting its marketing efforts to local and other markets since there has been a fall in arrivals from China due to the novel Coronavirus.

The country is currently pushing its “Visit Malaysia 2020” to rev up the stuttering economy which is Southeast Asia’s third-largest.

Last year Malaysia saw 28 million arrivals, where 11 percent were from China  and has a gross domestic product of 11.8 percent.

A temporary ban has been imposed on visitors from the Chinese provinces placed on lockdown by the Chinese government  so as to control the spread of the coronavirus,  although the number of tourist arrivals for January are not available.

So far Malaysia has reported 22 confirmed cases.

Musa Yusof, director-general of government agency Tourism Malaysia said that if they push for more efforts to encourage travel amongst Malaysians within their shores, they have hope to stimulate economy and hence, counter the losses due to the decline in foreign tourists.

They also have a strategy to ramp up promotions in Southeast Asia , the Middle East , Central Asia and South Asia.

The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) tourists from fellow Southeast Asian countries and India are some of the other big contributors.

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