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Kochi March 4 The Malaysian Tourism Department launched its road show in Kochi on Saturday to announce the beginning of `Visit Malaysia Year 2007' campaign in South India.

Addressing a press meet here, the Malaysian Tourism Minister, Mr Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, said that the Visit Malaysia Year is a year-long celebration of Malaysia's 50th anniversary of independence and his government is aiming to attract 20.1 million tourists during the period, of which 4 lakh will be from India.

According to him, the Indian arrivals to Malaysia have shown a double-digit growth in the last five years as 279,046 Indians visited the country in 2006 against 225,789 in 2005, a surge of over 23.5 per cent. He sad that Indians are one of the largest spenders in Malaysia with total tourists receipts surging by over 72 per cent.

`POTENTIAL MARKET'

"We consider India as a potential market, especially with growth in the economy. We are also working with Silk Air on the possibility of commencing a direct flight from Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram to Singapore," he said.

Tourism is the largest foreign exchange earner in the country after the manufacturing sector and there was a growth of 13 per cent in the overall tourist arrivals last year, he said. The Minister said the country earned $10.3 billion from tourism last year, which is expected to touch $13 billion this year.

As part of the campaign, Malaysia will celebrate more than 240 events during the year. However, 50 have been selected to represent the best that Malaysia has to offer.

This is in line with the theme "celebrating 50 years of nationhood" and plays on the numeral 50, denoting the golden jubilee of the country's independence, he said.

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