KUALA LUMPUR, 20 March 2004 — Malaysia aims to attract more than 130,000 Saudi tourists this year, its tourism minister said yesterday. Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir said tourism was a growing source of income for the Southeast Asian country.
Abdullah Jonid, the organizing chairman of the Commonwealth Travel Mart 2004 which opened here Thursday, lent support: “We are looking at a surge in tourists arrivals from the Arab world, especially from Saudi Arabia, which is considered as the biggest percentage of visitors from the Middle East,” he said.
The fair was inaugurated by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmed Badawi at the Malaysia International Exhibition & Convention Center and continues until Sunday. “For Malaysia, tourism as an economic activity has become a significant growth industry, ranking second place as the largest foreign exchange earner for the country,” Fadzir told a press conference.
“In 2002, Malaysia registered a growth of four percent in tourists arrivals totaling 13.29 million and generating RM25.78 billion ($6.78 billion),” he said.
The pall cast over the sector of the Iraq war and the SARS outbreak last year appears to be lifting. “This year has started very well for Malaysia, with 1.4 million tourist arrivals in January 2004,” Fadzir said.
In conjunction with Common-wealth Travel Mart, ministers of the Commonwealth countries are meeting from today until Sunday to discuss ways of promoting Asia as a single unit.
