KUCHING, Nov 21 — Malaysia’s revenue from tourism rose 9.6 per cent in the first nine months of this year with RM46.4 billion collected, compared to RM42.4 billion for the same period of 2012.

Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said 18.8 million tourists arrived in the country between January and September against the 18.2 million in the corresponding period of last year.

Speaking at the launch of the first Asia-Pacific Tourism, Hospitality and Technology (Apthat) Conference here today, he added that for the whole of last year, Malaysia recorded 25.03 million tourist arrivals, generating revenue of RM60.6 billion.

“The performance of the tourism industry in Malaysia remains promising.

Tourist arrivals in the third quarter of this year continues to soar,” he said.

Mohamed Nazri said industry players should look into ways to improve tourism receipts and provide value-added products to boost tourist spending in the country.

“The industry must take a multi-pronged approach and feature a variety of attractions, such as shopping havens, eco-tourism and developing the smaller and lesser known destinations,” he added. — Bernama