13th June 2016 - Well-established Serbian Dnevnik Daily published the article on Malaysia and its tourism titled "Land of thousand pleasures":
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Malaysia is recommended as an ideal destination for Serbian tourists
LAND OF THOUSAND PLEASURES
This year’s Malaysian Charity Bazaar (MCB) in Belgrade was also the opportunity to learn more about one of the global touristic superpowers of today. This Southeast Asian country is preparing itself to receive 30.5 million tourists in 2016 and generate income of 103 billion Malaysian ringgits (USD 25.75 billion). Considerable increase of the number of tourists is expected as a result of the implementation of “Open sky” policy among 10 countries, members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which will facilitate travelling to Malaysia for tourists from the region. Despite of Malaysia’s efforts to attract tourists from all over the world, most of the visitors are still from the neighboring countries – Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand – that make two-thirds of the total number of foreign tourists coming to Malaysia.
Tourism Malaysia officials are paying special attention to attracting tourists from the People’s Republic of China, India and rich Middle East countries. Malaysia introduced visa abolishment for tourists from China for the duration of stay not exceeding 15 days. According to the Malaysia Tourism official website, the number of tourists was reduced by 6.3 percent, from 27.4 million in 2014 to 25.7 million in 2015. The revenue from tourism was also reduced by 4 percent, to 69.1 million Malaysian ringgit. As the Tourism Malaysia Director General Datuk Seri Mirza Mohammad Taiyab explained, this is due to the weakening of the local currency, which reduced the budget for the promotional activities abroad. According to well-informed sources, further reasons also lie in the two crashes of the national airline airplanes in 2014, in which more than 500 persons lost their lives.
Over the last decade, the Malaysian tourism officials carried out a well-elaborated campaign to portray Malaysia as an ideal Asian tourist destination abroad. This federal constitutional monarchy with the size of its territory of 329 847 square kilometers and population of more than 30 million is blessed with equatorial climate and geographical contrasts. It has magnificent white sand beaches, crystal clear water, mountain peaks, modern skyscrapers and biggest shopping malls, intact rainforests, some of them being the oldest in the world. Malaysia is one of megadiverse 17 i.e. one of the countries that are home to most of the living organisms on earth.
Globally, Malaysia is 11th country in the world in the number of visitors, according to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) for the year 2014. It was also the only Asian country competing for the Lonely Planet’s best place to travel in 2014. The state capital, Kuala Lumpur, is ranked number four among the best cities for shopping, according to CNN Travel, two years in a row (2012 and 2013). Besides that, Crescent Trading Co from Singapore proclaimed Malaysia the best Muslim travel destination in 2013.
Three Malaysian beaches are on CNN’s top 100 best world beaches list. Those are Perhentian Kecil, the island in Terengganu federal unit, Juara Beach on Tioman Island, Pahang and Tanjung Rhu Beach in Lankawi, Kedah. What Malaysia makes truly unique, however, are its people – melting pot of different races and religions, comprised of Malays, Chinese, Indians and numerous smaller ethnic groups. By visiting Malaysia, the visitors from other continents have the opportunity to learn more about many other Asian cultures and traditions. The best example of this would be Malaysian cuisine, which turned the country into gastronomical paradise. Malaysian people are open, warm and friendly. Most of the foreign visitors find the fact that almost everybody in Malaysia speaks English very convenient.
Tourism is the second largest generator of foreign currency income, after industrial goods, and seventh largest generator of Malaysia’s national income (including domestic, revenues of Malaysians living abroad and foreigners permanently residing in Malaysia), after oil and energy sector, trade, palm oil and rubber, financial services sector, agriculture, agriculture and electric appliances and electronics. In 2013, tourism industry contributed more than USD 14 billion to Malaysia’s Gross National Income. The tourism industry also plays a major role in the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), ambitious plan of the Prime Minister Najib Razak to turn Malaysia into high income nation by 2020. The target for 2020 is for the number of tourists to reach 36 million and revenue of around USD 43 billion.
~ SIDEBAR
Visas for Serbian citizens abolished:
The Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of Malaysia in Belgrade, Nik Ady Arman Nik Mohd Kamil informed that the Malaysian Government, in January 2016, introduced one-year visa abolishment trial for the Serbian citizens, who, during this period, will not be required Malaysian visa to enter the country. The signing of bilateral agreement on visa abolishment between Malaysia and Serbia is entirely possible in near future. “The number of Serbian tourists visiting Malaysia has been steadily growing at the average rate of 18 percent per year since 2004. It is expected that the visa abolishment would contribute to significant increase of Serbian tourists travelling to Malaysia, as well as the number of Malaysian tourists travelling to Serbia. At the same time, it would facilitate establishing direct contacts between Malaysian and Serbian business communities” – said the Chargé d’Affaires Nik Ady Arman for Dnevnik Daily.
END OF SIDEBAR~
~Photo 1 Caption: Beach on Perhentian Kecil Island is one of 100 most beautiful beaches in the world~
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Embassy of Malaysia in Belgrade thanks
Dnevnik Daily for the media coverage