MALAYSIA drew 17.34 million tourists in the first eight months of this year, and the Tourism and Culture Ministry aims to bosst that number next year.

Ministry secretary general Rashidi Hasbullah said it was targeting 33.1 million tourist arrivals and RM118 billion in tourist receipts next year, The Star reported.

Figures for 2017 are not finalised yet, but Rashidi said 17.34 million tourists came to Malaysia from January till August this year. 

Tourist receipts increased 1.8% between January and June, contributing RM31.8 billion to the country’s revenue.

Tourism is the third contributor to the gross national income (GNI) and is recognised as one of the 12 National Key Economic Areas (NKEA) to “propel the country’s economic transformation”. 

The other 11 NKEA are oil, gas and energy, palm oil, financial services, business services, electronics and electrical, wholesale and retail, education, healthcare, communications content and infrastructure, agriculture and greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley. – December 28, 2017.