JOHOR BARU: More than half the international tourists that have visited Malaysia as of July this year are from Singapore, says Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry secretary-general Datuk Saraya Arbi.
She said in the first seven months of 2022, the country received some 3.2 million international tourists with the majority from the republic.
“Singapore is the largest contributor of foreign visitors entering Malaysia since the reopening of the border in April this year.
“Out of the 3.2 million visitors we received, 1.8 million or 56.3% are from Singapore.
“It is important that Johor offer tourism products, including handicrafts for the visitors,” she said.
She said this during the launch of the Johor Craft Festival at Angsana Mall yesterday.
Saraya added that among efforts to boost tourism was the promotion of local handicrafts to local and international visitors.
“The Ministry and Kraftangan Malaysia have been pushing for the sustainability and development of the local handicraft industry to attract more visitors.
“This can be seen when the total amount of handicrafts sold this year stands at RM258.5mil as of November. This is higher than the RM200,000 initial target we have set for the year 2022,” she said.
She noted that the government has also allocated RM6.8mil vouchers for handicrafts products.
“Visitors could get a RM30 voucher for every RM100 worth of local handicrafts purchased.
“The initiative of offering the vouchers has recorded sales worth RM26mil this year alone,” she said.
Meanwhile, on the Johor Craft Festival, Saraya said that the Ministry aims to see some RM7.5mil worth of local handicrafts sold during the 11-day event.
“I am optimistic that we could reach the target with the Malaysian handicrafts available,” she said.
