Nazri: Malaysia targets 8m Chinese tourists by 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia targets to lure four million tourists from China and aims to double the number to eight million by 2020.

"We hope to bring in four million tourists from China this year, doubling to eight million by 2020. Overall, we target about RM114 billion in tourist receipts for 2017 and RM168 billion for 2020 from 36 million international arrivals," said Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz during the launch of the Malaysia-Xiamen Chamber of Commerce at the Midvalley Exhibition Center today.
He said the Malaysian government has set up a visa processing centre in Xiamen, the fifth centre to be established in China after Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Kunming.
"The visa processing center will help us to woo one million potential tourists from Fujian. The Fujian Promotion Center will help Malaysia to further boost its tourism economy as China is currently the third largest source country of tourist arrivals to Malaysia," Nazri explained.
He also said with the Malaysia-Xiamen Chamber of Commerce, it will further enhance the relationship between the two countries.
"The timing is indeed perfect for this association to be set up and we expect much closer ties in education, trade, tourism and even cultural exchanges such as film production," he added.
The establishment of the Malaysia-Xiamen Chamber of Commerce will also aid entrepreneurs from both countries thus strengthening our ties even more.
Xiamen has also been one of Malaysia's top 10 largest trading partners among Chinese cities.
"In 2015, the trade value between Malaysia and Xiamen reached RM11.53 billion per annum. The trade volume between Malaysia and Fujian Province was about RM13.89 billion in 2016. Both Malaysia and Fujian Province have been identified as one of the hubs for the 21st Century's Silk (Maritime) Road," the minister said.
Nazri added that currently China is Malaysia's largest trading partner with bilateral trade reaching RM240.9 billion in 2016, amounting to 16.2% of Malaysia's total trade.
In the first quarter of 2017, Malaysia-China bilateral trade amounted to RM68.74 billion.