Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak said this target is achievable by enhancing the growth momentum of the country’s tourism industry through the VMY 2014 promotional campaign. The campaign, which runs for one year, not only promotes Malaysia on an international level but also highlights various pro-active initiatives by the Ministry of Tourism to ensure Malaysians understand the economic benefits of a successful VMY 2014.
The
theme song for VMY 2014, Celebrating 1Malaysia…Truly Asia, also
made its debut to the public at the event. The theme song will be
used worldwide for the VMY 2014 promotion.
Tourism
related industry has employed almost 2.0 million persons in 2011.
Employment in the related tourism industries registered a growth of
7.7 per cent in 2011 as compared to 4.7 per cent in 2010. In 2011,
the share of employment in the related tourism industry was
16.4 per cent as against 15.6 per cent in the previous year.
In
2011, Malaysia received 24.7 million tourists, a huge increase
compared to the 7 million tourists recorded in 1999.
Tourism
industry is the third largest contributor to foreign exchange
earnings with tourist receipts of RM58.3 billion in 2011. This
translates to tourism revenue of RM4.85 billion each month, RM1.12
billion a week, RM160 million each day and RM6.6 million each hour.
