Malaysia starts campaign to attract Indian tourists

Malaysia announced the launch of a campaign to attract Indian tourists and push for investment in the hospitality sector for mutual benefit. The Indian edition of 'Visit Malaysia Year 2007' was launched in Delhi by Malaysia Tourism Minister Atuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor. He also announced the launch of 'Malaysia Kitchen' programme in India with an investment in the restaurant 'Little Penang' in the city. The minister said this investment would be done through Tourism Malaysia's subsidiary Pempena. The aim of the programme is to promote popular destinations through the cuisine palate. Under the programme, the company is exploring opportunities to convert this stand-alone outlet into to a chain of outlets, spread in cities like Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore, he said.

"The Malaysian hospitality industry was keen to initiate joint ventures with Indian companies to develop new hotels, resorts and tourism infrastructure," Mansor added. He said 'Visit Malaysia Year 2007', a year-long celebration to mark the South East Asian country's 50th year of independence, is aimed at attracting 20.1 million tourists, including four lakh from India. Mansor said the Indian tourist arrivals in Malaysia have shown a double digit growth over the last five years. In 2006, nearly 2.79 lakh Indians visited Malaysia compared to 2.25 lakh in 2005, an increase of over 23.5 per cent, the minister added.

visit us @ http://www.silkrouteholidays.com