Nearly 95,000 Saudi tourists visited Malaysia last year through Saudi Arabian Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Air Asia X, which operate direct flights out of Jeddah and Riyadh to Kuala Lumpur, according to Razaidi Abd Rahim, senior assistant director of Communications and Publicity at Tourism Malaysia.

Abd Rahim said Malaysia’s tourism industry exceeded expectations for 2013, with tourist receipts of RM65.4 billion, exceeding the initial target of RM65 billion. The 8.1 percent growth from RM60.56 billion in 2012 represents an increase of about RM4.89 billion in foreign exchange earnings.

Tourist arrivals also grew by 2.7 percent to 25.7 million, compared with 25.0 million arrivals in 2012 despite a challenging year.

“Malaysia is keeping its nose to the ground to achieve 28 million tourist arrivals and RM76 billion in tourist receipts this year in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year 2014 and 36 million tourist arrivals and $56 billion in tourist receipts by 2020 under the Malaysia Tourism Transformation Plan (MTTP) 2020, which is part of the National Key Economic Areas (NKEA).”

He said that Visit Malaysia Year 2014 is Malaysia’s biggest and grandest tourism celebration, boasting endless events, festivals and activities all-year round. “This is the perfect time to see, feel and experience Malaysia,” he said.

He said that expectation is running high as the spirit of celebration soars. He added that the VMY 2014’s theme, “We are the host,” tasks locals with being role models for their country.

According to him, Malaysia has long been one of the top choices of destinations for holiday makers in Saudi Arabia.

“Be it for honeymoons, family vacations, eco-tourism, MICE, medical tourism or even for education, Malaysia has always had something to offer for everyone,” he said.

He said that Saudis prefer Malaysia because it is a Muslim country, where Islamically sanctioned food is plentiful and the shopping experience, hotels and infrastructures are of world class standards. Other reasons include the many tourist attractions that Malaysia has, as well as value for money.