Malaysia eyeing 248 pct growth of tourists from Middle East by 2020
Photo: Tourists taking pictures at Merdeka Square in Kuala Lumpur on April 4, 2015. Donny Gevie / Shutterstock.com
Malaysia wants to attract 1 million visitors from the Middle East by 2020, from around 287,000 in 2016, through new airline partnerships and Muslim-friendly tour packages, Minister of Tourism and Culture Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri bin Tan Sri Abdul Aziz told Salaam Gateway.
“We have been the number one country for Islamic tourism over the last seven years, but [Middle Eastern] tourists still account for a small number,” the minister said this week at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.
Out of 26.8 million tourists who visited Malaysia in 2016 around 5.5 million were Muslim, and only 287,000 were from the Middle East, he said.
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