12.5 Million Tourists Visited Malaysia January-June

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 19 (Bernama) -- Malaysia received 12.5 million tourist arrivals from January to June this year, said Tourism and Culture Minister Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz. He said this represented a 7.9 per cent increase over the same period last year, with 11.6 million tourists. "I'm confident that there's much room for growth," he said in his speech at the 'rAWr Awards 2013 - Business Events Excellence Awards' here Wednesday night. The rAWr Awards is a collaboration between the Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) and the Malaysian Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS) to recognise professional standards, innovation and best practices within Malaysia's business events industry. Nazri pointed out that with the support from the industry, Malaysia secured 299 business events from 2010 to August 2013, attracting 186,258 delegates and contributing at least RM2 billion to the economy. MyCEB, he said, had also pledged its support to another 709 business events, accounting for 310,054 delegates and RM2.4 billion in economic value. "With over 1.3 million business event visitors in 2012, we're indeed on the right track to achieve our goal of 2.9 million business event visitors by the year 2020 to complement the ministry's target of 36 million arrivals and RM168 billion (US$52.6 billion) in tourism receipts," he added. Nazri presented the main award of the night in the form of the Minister's Award which went to East Malaysia state of Sarawak Convention Bureau chairman Dr Muhammad Leo Michael Toyad for his outstanding performance and contribution to the industry. -- BERNAMA