Health, Education Tourism Main Focus Of Indonesian Tourists To Malaysia

KUCHING (Sarawak, Malaysia), Jan 20 (Bernama) -- Health and education tourism were the main focus for Indonesians visiting Malaysia last year, said Indonesian Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Dr Mali Elka Pangestu. She said the findings were the result of a survey conducted by the republic and the development thus proved the effectiveness of tourism promotions being undertaken by the Malaysian government. "I see the research on why (Indonesians) have trips to Malaysia ... number one reason is health and second, education," she told reporters on the sidelines of the 17th Asean Tourism Ministers Conference in conjunction with the Asean Tourism Forum 2014 here Sunday. Mali Elka said over two million Indonesians visited Malaysia while about 1.2 million Malaysian tourists visited that neighbouring country from January-November 2013. She said the number of tourists were expected to continue increasing this year as a result of the strong cooperation between Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, especially with the frequency of direct flights that were being offered by low- cost airline companies AirAsia and Lion Air. Asked on issues that were discussed at the closed-door meeting, she said, these included efforts to have sightseeing cruise tours among the member countries as a new tourism attraction not only from the region but also from every corner of the world. She said all kinds of travelling patterns could be promoted, such as having packages from Malaysia to Singapore and Indonesia apart from having joint promotions and marketing. -- BERNAMA