Visit Malaysia Year 2007 targets 21 million tourists. What are the plans to achieve this ambitious landmark?
DG: The Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2007 campaign was launched at the start of 2006 to raise awareness among foreign tourists to plan their holidays in Malaysia during the year. There are over 240 events for VMY 2007 and 50 have been selected to represent the best that Malaysia has to offer. They range from activities and events such as sports, cultural, festive and arts, to reflect the diverse lifestyles and customs in multi-racial Malaysia. We also embarked on massive advertising campaigns and various promotional strategies throughout 2006 and these will be continued in 2007.  

Tourists arrival in 2007 is bound to create a great demand on infrastructure, how is the industry particularly the hotel industry gearing up to meet this rush?
DG: Our tourism industry players are fully cooperating to ensure the success of VMY 2007. The number of hotels and hotel rooms has increased from 1,090 hotels with 61,005 rooms in 1993 to 2,269 hotels and 155,356 rooms in 2005. Hence, the country is ready to cater to the influx of tourists during VMY 2007 as many new hotels have opened such as the Boulevard Hotel at MidValley City, Traders Hotel in the vicinity of the KL Convention Centre, Bella Vista Hotel Langkawi, Four Seasons Resort Langkawi, and the Novotel Hydro Majestic in Kuala Lumpur.

Will you be able to specify the three most unique achievements of Tourism Department in the last one year?
DG: Last year’s tourist arrivals hit 16.4 million, an increase of 4.6 per cent compared to 2004 and this positive trend continues in 2005 and 2006. With this performance, the tourism sector maintains its position as the second largest revenue earner after manufacturing. Besides that, the “Malaysia, Truly Asia” campaign has been successfully communicated through various marketing efforts of Tourism Malaysia and helped to establish a strong and distinctive personality or image of Malaysia as a must-visit premier holiday destination in Asia. We have also won tourism awards in 2006, including seven coveted trophies from PATA and three awards at the Incentive Travel & Conventions Meetings Asia (IT&CMA) show and 17th TTG Annual Travel Awards in October where Malaysia was named the Best National Tourism Organisation (NTO).

Why do tourists spend most of their time in Kuala Lumpur, while Malaysia has so much more to offer like Penang, Langkawi, Melaka and many more?
DG: As a country with diverse attractions, every tourist destination in Malaysia appeals to different tourists according to their needs, budgets and preferences. For instance, those who are into rainforests will visit the National Park (Taman Negara); Langkawi, Redang, Tioman, Penang or the many islands in Sabah for sun, sea and sand activities; caving enthusiasts will head to Niah and Mulu Caves in Sarawak. Kuala Lumpur has shopping and entertainment, especially nightlife.

What is the break up of tourist arrivals by nationalities and is the UAE and GCC tourist traffic on the increase?
DG: Our neighbouring countries namely Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam remain the top markets contributing a considerable number of tourists to Malaysia.
Until August 2006, the top 10 tourist generating markets were Singapore, followed by Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei, China, Japan, Australia, India, the United Kingdom and the Philippines. For the same period, tourists from West Asian countries have increased by 23.6 per cent compared to 2005.

Malaysia has also been put on the World Map of sport with the Formula 1 Grand Prix at Sepang. During Visit Malaysia Year 2007, will the Formula One Fans be treated something spectacular?
DG: In conjunction with the 2007 Petronas Malaysian F1 Grand Prix, there will be a KL GP City Festival which offers a mix of entertainment, culture, food and automobile shows. To showcase Malaysia as a shopping haven, the Malaysia GP Sale offers fantastic bargains and discounts await during this nationwide mega sale carnival.      

Lastly, what makes Malaysia “Truly Asia”?
DG: It’s the amalgam of three of Asia’s largest civilisations (the Chinese, Indians and the Malays) plus ethnic minorities of the state of Sabah and Sarawak and the cultural influences of the Dutch, Portuguese, Thais, and British that gives Malaysia its uniqueness and colour as it stands out from the rest of the region. The whole focus is on the people. The uniqueness of the whole blending is that everyone lives peacefully and harmoniously with one another.