Malaysia’s minister of tourism, arts and culture, Nancy Shukri, has confirmed that her ministry have set a target of 9.2 million foreign arrivals by the end of the year. The new figure is an indication of how well Malaysian tourism is recovering following the pandemic.
The ministry had originally set its sights on 4.5 million international tourists in 2022. However, with this target already close to being achieved, officials have had to revise their forecasts. The news is music to the ears of the tourism sector, which has been working together with the government to get tourism up and running as fast and as safely as possible.
“This was made possible only with the vigorous initiatives and incentives, including by bringing in international delegates through business events to our country since the reopening of borders and the easing of restrictions for inbound visitors,” said Nancy in a recent statement.
As part of the plan for the remainder of this year, Nancy and her ministry have been working on various international promotions to drum up interest on the global stage. They have been to various roadshows and travel shows in the Middle East, India, Thailand and Australia in the past couple of months.
Looking ahead, Nancy says she intends to focus energy and resources onto business tourism, promoting Malaysia as a key destination for MICE in 2022 and beyond. The minister was speaking on 29 August at the 7th Meet in Malaysia @ Malaysia Business Events Week 2022. During her speech, the minister noted that business event visitors spend three times more than the average tourists.
During the first 7 months of this year, Malaysia welcomed more than 3.21 million arrivals, raising an estimated RM9.35 billion (US$2 billion) in tourism revenue. Supported by a growing MICE sector, Nancy believes Malaysian tourism can bring in around RM26.8 billion RM (US$5.98 billion) by the end of the year.
