Tourism Ministry Targeting 16,000 Qataris This Year
DOHA, May 11 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Tourism Ministry is confident of achieving its target of 16,000 tourist arrivals from this year through the collaboration with Qatar Airways, Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.
He said Qatar Airways had been operating nine flights weekly from Doha to Kuala Lumpur and four flights weekly to Bali with a stopover in Kuala Lumpur since last month and was planning to increase the flight frequency to Kuala Lumpur to 14 times a week.
The Doha-Kuala Lumpur direct flight was an important factor in wooing more West Asian tourists to visit Malaysia, especially during the peak season from July to September, he told Malaysian journalists accompanying him on his visit to West Asia to promote Visit Malaysia Year 2007.
West Asians go for holiday overseas during this period to escape the scorching heat when temperatures could reach more than 40 degrees Celsius.
Tengku Adnan said the ministry was also cooperating with tour agencies to create packages tailored to the needs of Qatarians who normally tour with their families.
Meanwhile, Malaysian ambassador to Qatar Datuk Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari said Qatar was a very important tourism market for Malaysia which received 10,000 Qatarian tourists last year, from 7,200 in 2005 and 5,250 in 1984.
"The purchasing power of Qatarians is very high. Malaysia is their main holiday destination and a household name not only among the ordinary people but also the rich," he said.
The oil- and gas-rich Qatar, one of the richest Gulf states, enjoys a per capita income of US$40,000 (RM136,363).
Tourists from this country, which has a population of 170,000 people, stay in Malaysia for not less than a week.