By Florence A. Samy

HANOI: Tourist arrivals in Malaysia increased by 5.1% to over 22 million last year, compared with the 20.9 million in 2007.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Asean Tourism Forum here, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said despite the current global economic challenges, the tourism industry still managed to grow due to intensified promotional efforts.

Tourist arrivals last month also reached a record high of 2.058 million, a 9.2% increase from December 2007.

Long-haul tourists showed the highest increase in arrivals, with Canada registering a 65.6% increase, followed by the Netherlands (63.3%), Russia (56%), France (44.4%), Norway (43.9%) and Germany (41.9%).

In the short and medium-haul markets, there was a 132% jump in the number of Iranian tourists, followed by Cambodians (52.9% increase), Indonesians (34.6%) and Indians (30.4%).

Singapore contributed the largest number of visitors to Malaysia, with 11 million arrivals last year followed by Indonesia (2.428 million), Thailand (1.493 million) and Brunei (1.172 million).

Azalina said the Cabinet Committee for Tourism had set a 20 million tourist target for this year and was banking on arrivals from Asean countries.

She said RM50mil would be allocated for the Asean market this year compared to RM30mil last year and more roadshows would be held in China and the Middle-East.

She said the focus this year would be on unknown markets and cities instead of capital cities. At the forum, Asean members signed a mutual recognition agreement to enable mobility of tourism professionals across the region.

The agreement enables member countries to exchange information on best practices in competency-based education and training of tourism professionals while providing capacity building opportunities across the region.

On promoting Asean as a one-stop tourist destination, Asean secretary-general Dr Surin Pitsuwan said a task force had been set up to determine how incentives could be given for Asean travellers within the region.

"If we can increase Asean tourist intakes within the region, we will be able to compensate somewhat from the definite reduction in tourist intake from other parts of the world such as North America and Europe," he said.

The Star/ Asia News Network