THE Tourism, Arts, and Culture Ministry is targeting 30 million tourist arrivals in Malaysia by 2020.

Deputy Minister Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik said the influx of tourists during the year would increase the gross domestic product to 15.1%, from the 14.9% through 26.1 million tourist arrivals last year.

“We are now asking for a bigger budget for tourism promotion, because it is key to the sustainability of the tourism industry itself,” he said after the flag-off ceremony for the 2018 Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride Penang in George Town today.

He said with the allocation, the ministry would be able to promote tourism to a wider audience.

“We are now getting stiff competition from Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar, and also Singapore in this industry. We have to strengthen our promotion. We hope Malaysians themselves take part in boosting domestic tourism,” he said.

Bakhtiar said that the ministry was working with the Education Ministry to introduce staggered school holiday breaks according to states, to distribute the domestic tourist load. – Bernama, September 30, 2018.