KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - MALAYSIAN tourist numbers are expected to fall by nine per cent next year due to the global economic slowdown and security concerns in the region, deputy premier Najib Razak said on Wednesday.

Mr Najib, who is also the finance minister, said the tourism ministry expects 20 million foreign visitors in 2009, down from the 22 million projected for this year.

'In view of the slowdown in the global economy and due to the security problems in a few countries, we expect tourist arrivals to only reach 20 million and this is with intensive additional efforts,' Mr Najib said.

'Without these efforts maybe we will only see 18 million tourist arrivals for the year,' he told reporters after chairing a cabinet committee meeting on tourism.

Tourism was Malaysia's second highest foreign exchange earner in 2007, raking in US$14 billion (S$21.4 billion) in revenue from 21 million tourist arrivals.

The tourism industry is closely linked with economic fortunes, Najib said, noting that in 1997 the Asian economic crisis coupled with haze and the dengue epidemic caused tourism to plunge by 13 per cent.

'We cannot insulate the tourist prospects from what is happening globally in terms of the economic conditions,' he said.

However, Mr Najib said the present political unrest in neighbouring Thailand could boost the country's tourist arrivals.

'It depends whether people from Thailand can travel to Malaysia, that is one factor. It could also be a plus factor in the sense that people might divert to Malaysia,' he said. -- AFP