Malaysia targets 30 million tourist arrivals in 2020

Dr. Mahathir Mohamad during the launch of the campaign – Twitter

By Nasir Yusoff
Contributor to AsiaN

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia is hoping to receive 30 million international tourists and some RM100 billion tourist receipts next year with the launching of Visit Malaysia Year 2020 (VMY 2020) campaign.
About 25.8 million tourists visited Malaysia last year, placing it at 15th place internationally among the countries receiving the highest number of tourists. For the first five months of this year, international tourist arrivals reached more than 10 million
Launching the VMY 2020 campaign, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said it is an opportunity and a challenge for Malaysia to attract record numbers of visitors.
The focus of the campaign will be on “high yield” markets – ASEAN, China, India, United Kingdom and Germany.
The campaign welcomes visitors from all over the world to experience the uniqueness and beauty of Malaysia’s ecotourism attractions including its rainforests which are among the oldest in the world, mountains, islands and beaches.
Visitors will also appreciate Malaysia’s diverse culture, arts, heritage and history in line with the campaign’s promotional theme ‘Culture, Nature and its People’.

The Visit Malaysia Year 2020 logo

The Visit Malaysia 2020 logo, part of the campaign’s marketing and promotional drive, features various recognizable icons of Malaysia such as the hornbill, the bunga raya (hibiscus), the wild fern and colors of the Malaysian flag.
The logo was designed by Malaka graphic designer Alfred Phua Hong Fook, 23. It was selected from hundreds of entries submitted in a competition organized to gather ideas from Malaysians.