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Malaysia hopes to repeat record year in 2004
Advantage Travel Centres Conference 2004 Special: Director general for Tourism Malaysia is expecting tourism in the country to rebound quickly from the negative impact of terrorism and disease outbreaks.
Mr Datuk Abdullah Jonid says he has set high target for his office and hopes to match the record level of tourism achieved in 2002.
According to Tourism Malaysia a record 13.3 million tourists visited Malaysia in 2002. This was down to 10.5 million in 2003.
Mr Jonid said: “We have been faced with one challenge after another beginning with 9/11, the Bali bombing, the Sars scare and most recently, avian flu. All these events took its toll on the Asian region, and Malaysia suffered along with the rest with a dip in the number of tourist arrivals to the country.”
Mr Jonid was making the welcoming speech to 390 delegates gathered for the Advantage Travel Centres Conference. It is the first time in 12 years that the conference has been held in a longhaul destination. It was last held in Asia in 1992, in Hong Kong.
Despite the dip in number of tourist last year, Mr Jonid said he hoped to match 2002 figures this year. He said that in the first three months of 2004, Malaysia has recorded 3.9 million tourist arrivals, up 38.4% from the same period in 2003.
Mr Jonid said: “If this growth continues on a month to month basis, then I hope to achieve the numbers reached in 2002. Anything beyond that is a bonus.”
Report by Ginny McGrath
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