KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 — Malaysia welcomed 5.03 million visitors from Asean countries in the first quarter of 2017, an increase of 2.4 per cent over the corresponding period of last year, said Deputy Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin.

This was an encouraging trend towards meeting Malaysia’s target of attracting 23.1 million tourists from Asean member countries this year, she said, adding that the region remained the largest contributor of tourist arrivals to this country.

In 2016, she said, 20.3 million tourists from Asean visited Malaysia, constituting 75.8 per cent of the country’s total arrivals of 26.8 million visitors.

"And tourist receipts from the Asean market amounted to RM56.2 billion, which was 68.4 per cent of our total tourist receipts in 2016,” she said at the media launch of KL Fashion Week (KLFW) Ready-to-Wear 2017 here today.

Mas Ermieyati said the amount spent by tourists on shopping in Malaysia had also increased to RM26.03 billion in 2016 from RM21.63 billion in 2015, up by 20.3 per cent.

On the upcoming KLFW scheduled for Aug 16 to 20 at the Pavilion shopping mall in Bukit Bintang here, the deputy minister said that the event would see some 150 designers showcasing their collections.

"Last year, KLFW drew more than 100,000 people over five days and I hope we can exceed that figure this year,” KLFW Ready-to-Wear founder Andrew Tan told Bernama. The show is being organised for the fifth year.

Tan said it would also feature international guest designers from countries like Australia, China, India, Japan, the Philippines and South Korea who would engage in creative dialogue with local designers with a view to promoting them internationally.

The KLFW is seen, among others, as a platform to promote local designers eyeing a piece of the global fashion pie. — Bernama