MALACCA, Oct 21 — The Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2014 initiative targets to attract a new record of 28 million international tourist arrivals and RM76 billion in tourist receipts, said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.           

Aptly themed Celebrating “1Malaysia, Truly Asia’, he said the initiative will showcase the unique selling points of the country’s rich culture and heritage with many ethnic groups living in harmony.

“VMY 2014 is not just about organising more events and intensifying marketing and promotion, more importantly, it is getting the nation ready by offering our Malaysian hospitality and changing mindset to be a tourist-friendly nation.

“In the process, VMY 2014 mobilises the entire industry and nation to move up the value chain of tourism product and services offering thus contributing towards making Malaysia as a top-of-the-mid tourist destination,” he said in his opening remarks at the World Tourism Conference 2013 here today.

Also present were Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Idris Haron, Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz and United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Executive Director Zoltan Somogyi.  The three-day conference is being attended by 678 delegates from 46 countries including the United Kingdom, Portugal, China, Australia, Argentina, South Africa, Guatemala, Singapore and Brunei.

Muhyiddin said the government’s role to target and advance tourism as a priority sector had been the game changer in the industry.

He said it could be viewed as two distinct phases, with the first traced back to the period from 1998 to 2010, whereby tourism was identified as a key sector to address the economic downturn and generate new sources of growth.

The government, he said, provided the necessary policies and institutional framework as well as enabling environment and facilitation for tourists.

“The second phase of the vital role of the government as a game changer and pace setter can be marked by the launching of the Economic Transformation Programme in Sept 2010...tourism was identified as one of the 12 National Key Economics Areas,” he said. 

Muhyiddin said the outlook for tourism was very bright with the key trend of a growing world population, from 7.1 billion people last year to approximately 8.3 billion people in 2030, with rising income and better quality of life.

He said this positive scenario was supported by a UNWTO study which projected an average annual growth of international tourist arrivals of 3.3 per cent for the period from 2010 to 2030, with growth rate forecast from 940 million in 2010 to 1.8 billion in 2030.

He added that it was noteworthy that the Asia Pacific region will be the fastest growing market in terms of inbound and outbound tourism with the arrivals projected to increase by 330 million in two decades, from 204 million in 2010 to 535 million in 2030.

“The performance of the tourism industry worldwide remains promising with international tourist arrivals growing at a faster rate during the first half of 2013, at five per cent compared to projected growth rate of three to four per cent this year. This shows that the tourism industry has exceeded expectations and will continue to be robust and strong,” he said. – Bernama