Tourism minister: Hopefully more than five million tourists to Malaysia this year

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 — Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing today said his ministry aims to achieve five to six million tourists this year.

Malaysia had 3.1 million tourists last year, he told reporters at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) this afternoon.

“Last year we had 3.1 (million tourists), we hope that this year we can get at least five million or six million,” he said.

The Bintulu MP was at KLIA today to distribute goodie bags to tourists arriving on flights from China in conjunction with the first day of Chinese New Year celebrations.

“Our purpose today is to welcome tourists from Asian countries, especially China,” he said.

He expressed his hopes that Malaysia will see many tourists from other Asian countries this year.

He also pointed out the signage around the arrivals area, saying that it will be welcoming tourists in many different languages.

However, the project would be completed in stages and the signage that was currently up was a temporary one.

The goodie bags that were given out to tourists today consisted of black and white pepper from Sarawak, which is where Tiong is from, as well as a pepper grinder.

Tiong previously asked Malaysians not to overreact to tourists arriving from China.

He said should the government take any action on tourists, it would be arrivals from the US.