Malaysia Sees Higher Tourist Arrivals From S'pore During Festive Holidays

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah SINGAPORE, Aug 5 (Bernama) -- With the festive season around the corner, Tourism Malaysia expects an increase of tourist arrivals from Singapore with the long weekend holidays following Hari Raya Puasa (Eid Fitri) and Singapore National Day. "We expect an increase of arrivals from Singapore. "In addition, the strong Singapore dollar enables them to stretch the dollar even more in Malaysia, and the on-going Mid-year Mega Sale is another pull-factor for them to visit Malaysia. "The direct expenditure that the tourists spend on accommodation, food, entertainment, shopping and other services will add to our tourism receipts which will significantly contribute to our economy," Tourism Director for Singapore Noor Aine Ismail told Bernama She noted popular destinations such as Melaka state, Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh (capital of Perak state), Genting Highlands and Penang state are the top spots. "Johor is also becoming a favourite whereby they flock to Legoland and Puteri Harbour Theme Parks," Noor Ainee added. For the first five months of this year, Malaysia recorded 5,209,286 tourist arrivals from Singapore, an overall increase of 11.5 per cent over the same period last year. -- BERNAMA