Saturday December 29, 2007

Government sets higher target for VMY

Into eighth leg: Tengku Adnan and Putrajaya Corporation chairman Tan Sri Samsudin Osman are all smiles in front of the Karnival Gegar poster in Putrajaya yesterday. The carnival is to promote tourism products, sports and cultural activities. — Bernama

PUTRAJAYA: A record 20.7 million foreign tourists visited the country this year, surpassing the target of 20.1 million set for the Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2007 campaign.

Now the Government has set new targets – 21 million by next week and 21.5 million by Aug 31 next year as the VMY campaign has been extended to that date in conjunction with Malaysia’s 50th Merdeka.

Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said the country also earned RM45.7bil in foreign exchange.

He said if not for the various street demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur and the floods, the target would have been surpassed even earlier with even higher earnings.

Speaking to reporters here on the eighth leg of VMY’s Karnival Gegar project yesterday, Tengku Adnan said the Government would continue to promote the “Malaysia Truly Asia” brand.

He was also glad the Government had decided to continue with the Visa-On-Arrival for foreigners, which he believes helped attract more tourists.

The Government’s tourism campaign, he said, would also continue to attract domestic tourists.

“It has been successful so far as we have surpassed 37 million room nights,” he said, adding that the Government’s move to offer packages with cheap accommodation at major hotels, to tie up with tourism programmes, was a good idea.

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