PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is aiming for a total of 16.1 million tourist arrivals and RM49.3bil in receipts this year, with China as a key market, says Tourism Malaysia.Its director-general Datuk Dr Ammar Abd Ghapar (pic) said that China remains one of the top market sources for Malaysia with 211,363 arrivals to the country last year.
“For the first quarter of 2023, Malaysia received as many as 178,150 Chinese tourists, compared with 3,624 (+4,816%) in the same period last year.
“Of this total (Malaysia’s target of 16.1 million international tourist arrivals), the Chinese market is a focal point with five million arrivals from there,” he said in an interview.He added that Tourism Malaysia is intensifying its promotional efforts in collaboration with travel agents and airlines while leveraging on its overseas offices in key Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Ammar said the resumption and introduction of new international flight routes between Malaysia and China had enhanced connectivity, with 203 flights per week currently operating between the two countries.
As for Visit Malaysia Year 2026, he said that preparations were underway.“Tourism Malaysia aims to amplify its marketing efforts in China through strategic initiatives like business sessions, seminars, networking events and targeted promotions, especially for niche segments like the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme,” he added.
Ammar said Tourism Malaysia is embarking on a second sales mission to China from today till next Sunday.
“This mission will cover cities like Changsha, Chengdu, Lanzhou and Xi’an, following the success of the first sales mission that took place from April 6-16, which included stops in Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen,” he added.
“Significant milestones” were achieved in the first sales mission, said Ammar.
“We successfully signed a memorandum of understanding with two travel agencies to bring 450,000 Chinese tourists to Malaysia this year.
“Additionally, a memorandum of cooperation was signed with the Fujian Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, further solidifying bilateral tourism collaboration between the two countries,” he said.
