KOTA BARU: Tourism Malaysia is aiming for 45 million visitor arrivals to the country to further boost the Visit Malaysia 2026 (VM2026) campaign.
Its director-general Datuk Manoharan Periasamy (pic) expressed confidence that the target is achievable, citing the fact that Malaysia welcomed over 38 million visitors last year.
“For the record, the number of visitors to Malaysia as of February this year has increased by 31.3%, reaching 6.7 million, compared with 5.1 million during the same period last year.
“The main contributors to this growth are visitors from Singapore, China and India.
“Looking at the current trend in tourist arrivals, we are optimistic about achieving the target of 45 million visitors, and this goal is certainly within reach.
“To accomplish this, we must collaborate with all industry players, including product operators and state governments, to attract more visitors to the country,” he said, Bernama reported.
He said this during an engagement session with Kelantan tourism industry players yesterday, which was also attended by the state’s tourism, culture, arts and heritage committee chairman Datuk Kamarudin Md Nor.
On the engagement session, he said its purpose was to provide a comprehensive overview of the initiatives and opportunities offered by Tourism Malaysia and the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry (Motac) to tourism industry players in Kelantan.
This effort is part of the national agenda to ensure the success of VM2026.
“Among the key initiatives shared during the session were the Aviation and Charter Sector Grant, Tourism Sector Support Grant, Travel Incentive and Cultural Sector Support Grant,” he said.
He said his team will work closely with tourism industry players in their respective states, assisting them in promoting their products and cultural or artistic activities.
“We found that Kelantan and Negri Sembilan are among the states less active in applying for grants to promote their tourism industries compared with Selangor, Sabah, Kuala Lumpur, and Penang,” he noted.
“Therefore, we hope that these industry players will take advantage of the opportunities to apply for government assistance, schemes, and grants to boost promotional activities in their states.”
