Malaysia bats for 15 percent increase in UAE arrivals (Special Report: GIBTM 2008)

ABU DHABI – Leveraging on the appeal of the Visit Malaysia Year, which has been extended until August 2008, Tourism Malaysia is targeting a 15-percent increase in arrivals from the United Arab Emirates by year-end. Arrivals from this market hit 38,000 in 2007, a nine-percent increase over the previous year.

With the extended Visit Malaysia Year come new events and extra additional flights from Eithad, Emirates, Malaysian Airlines and Yemeni Airlines.

Currently, the most popular destinations for UAE nationals are Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Langkawi. Malaysia has also started introducing new destinations to the market, specifically, Terengganu, Sabah, Malacca and Johor.