Topic > Tourism Industry: Tourism in Malaysia - 706

Tourism in Malaysia started in the 1960s and is one of the new forces in the economic sector, but the growth has been slow. Subsequently, a tourism master plan was added to the Second Malaysia Plan during 1971-1975 and this marked the beginning of tourism as an economic contributor to the country which has become the second largest foreign exchange earner for the country after the manufacturing (Robiah S., 2007). Early in the industry's growth, Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) is a major tourism event launched by the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism (MOCAT) in the 1990s and has been expanded to include other attractions. Malaysia's main tourism markets are neighboring ASEAN countries, China, South Korea, Japan, India, Australia and the United States. The event was a huge success recording over 7 million international tourist arrivals with a growth of 53.6%. Furthermore, the slogan "Malaysia Truly Asia" is a major advertising campaign sponsored by the Malaysian government, recognized internationally as a uniquely Malaysian brand to promote tourism in Malaysia. The Malaysian tourism industry has faced several challenges such as the instability of the world economy, politics, SARS and the challenge posed by other ASEAN countries competing to attract tourists has started Malaysia to define its own tourism strategy diversification of tourist attractions. However, according to the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB), which called Tourism Malaysia (2008), it aims to encourage tourism and related industries in Malaysia. Tourism is expected to help promote new investments in the country, as well as provide more job opportunities. The growth of tourism would also contribute positively to......half paper......destination in the world. Every year tourists from various countries of the world visit the place in large numbers. The tourism industry has shown a continuous increase in the number of tourists visiting Malaysia over the years. Available data shows that from 2000 to 2013 there was a clear increase in the number of tourists visiting Malaysia with a temporary decline during 2003 due to the global crisis. Since 2000, the number of tourists visiting Malaysia was around 10.22 million tourists while in 2013 the figure increased to around 25.72 million tourists; these figures show that the number of tourists visiting Malaysia has increased by more than half. However, the number of tourists from ASEAN countries is always higher than that of other countries. This may be due to the easy and cheap access to Malaysia from these countries.