Malaysia targets 23.5 million international tourist arrivals by 2025

H.E. Datuk Mohd Azmri bin Mat Zain, Deputy Secretary General for Tourism expressed satisfaction over business at ITB Berlin 2023 and announced ambitious goals for the future.

It has been a successful year at ITB Berlin for the Malaysian delegation. Over 40 exhibitors were under the umbrella of the Malaysia Tourism and Promotion Board, while both Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo also had a dozen exhibitors on separate stands. “It is very encouraging as we set up new targets for this year. While we passed the 10 million international arrivals’ mark in 2022, we now target 16.1 million international visitors in 2023, which would generate approximately €10.5 billion – which represents over 48.2 billion Malaysian Ringgit,” said Datuk Mohd Azmri bin Mat Zain.

Malaysia will greatly intensify its marketing efforts and campaigns as Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that 2025 would be “Visit Malaysia Year” at his recent presentation the 2023 budget. “We have a target of 23.5 million international tourist arrivals and a projected income of €16.13 billion (RM76.8 billion),” added the Deputy Secretary General for Tourism.

In a recent speech at the presentation of the 2023 budget, Malaysia’s Prime Minister stressed that the government would allocate €52.5 million (RM250 million) to promote tourism. A sum of €24.2 million will be made available as matching grant funds to collaborate with the tourism, arts and culture sectors.

“These matching grants will contribute to promoting tourism activities and organising major events such as international sporting and cultural events”. According to Datuk Mohd Azmri bin Mat Zain, another task will be to encourage more international airlines to fly to Malaysia with specific financial incentives to attract them.

Photo: H.E. Datuk Mohd Azmri bin Mat Zain (centre) at the official Malaysia stand opening during ITB