M’sian tourism gets a budget boost
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Recognized as a major source of foreign exchange earnings, the Tourism Ministry was allocated RM858million.
These would go into programmes such as promotion of tourism domestically and abroad, development of ecotourism
products and provision of tourism infrastructure.
The budget speech also noted that Malaysia expects tourism arrivals into the country to hit 21.5 million in two years time, compared to 17.5 million last year. BY 2010, the number of tourist arrivals is expected to increase to 24.6 million. The Ministry said the Silver Hair programme, which was replaced by the Malaysia My Second Home programme in 2002, has helped to encourage foreigners to extend their stay in the country, it said.
The largest number of tourist arrivals is from ASEAN countries followed by Japan, China and Australia, while India and the Middle East countries are increasingly becoming important markets. It said tourist spending remains a main contributor to earnings in the services account, generating an average of 45.3% of gross receipts on an annual basis. But travel outflows are also on the rise as more Malaysians travel abroad for business, leisure, education, health and pilgrimage.
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