Following the reopening of borders on April 1, about 500,000 international tourists have entered Malaysia since last week.
Based on the figures, the ministry was confident that the target of two million tourist arrivals could be achieved by the end of this year, according to Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Seri Dr Santhara Kumar.
“We also believe that we can exceed the target, namely around three million to five million tourist arrivals because we were made to understand that Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong recently said that (Malaysia’s) air passenger traffic this year is forecast to increase by almost 300 per cent and this will definitely bring more tourists from abroad,” he said.
“However, we are still facing challenges to register tourist arrivals like we had in 2019 and this will definitely take some time,” he was quoted as saying to the press today.
He also said Malaysia had previously relied on the tourists from China, India and Saudi Arabia and stressed that several initiatives are being drafted to allow for visa flexibility to be granted to tourists, so that the entry of tourists into this nation is made easy.
Earlier, he officiated the National Culture Policy Roadshow, with Melaka National Department for Culture and Arts (JKKN) director Ezlina Alias also present.
