Malaysia expecting 21.5m visitors in 2008

The Malaysian finance ministry has predicted that 21.5 million people will visit the country next year.

Some 21.5 million tourists will visit Malaysia in 2008, according to a government report.

This would be an increase from the 17.5 million people that the country welcomed in 2006, the ministry of finance (MoF) publication said.

Tourism has become an increasingly important industry for Malaysia since the latter decades of the 20th century, with boosted foreign exchange earnings and job creation among the benefits of the sector's success, Forbes magazine reports.

The MoF report said: "Tourist arrivals have increased almost 15-fold from 1.2 million in 1974 to 17.5 million people, with a contribution of 38.2 million ringgit [£5.4 million] in 2006."

By 2010, the number of visitors travelling to Malaysia is predicted to increase further to reach 24.6 million.

This level of activity would generate around 59.4 million (£8.4 million) ringgits in revenue and create 520,700 jobs, the Malaysian government said.

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