Malaysia was respected with the ‘Best Travel and Leisure Destination (Short-Haul)’ award at the 6th TravelWeekly (China) Travel and Meeting Industry Awards 2009 held at the Raffles Beijing Hotel.

The annual TravelWeekly (China) Travel and Meeting Industry Awards identifies outstanding achievements and contributions to tourism by travel industry players in the Asia Pacific. Almost 800,000 votes were cast by TravelWeekly China readers both online and magazine as well as industry leaders in all categories.

The online voting contest which opened from 26 May and ended on 20 July 2009 witnessed a total of 46 awards were being nominated this year.

The ‘Best Destination’ was judged in terms of superior product and excellent service, outstanding efforts and professionalism in catering to the needs of the Chinese travellers. Malaysia won the ‘Best Travel & Leisure Destination (Short- Haul)’ with 334 votes, followed by Hokaido, Japan (115 votes) and Cebu & Boracay, Philippines (56 votes).

Tourist Arrivals

Malaysia documented a total of 2,030,337 foreign tourists in August 2009, an increase of 10.4%, compared to the same month in 2008. Cumulatively, arrivals recorded from January to August 2009 were 15,380,505 tourists, representing an increase of 4..4% compared to 14,730,437 tourists for the same period in 2008.

In terms of the tourist arrivals from China (including Hong Kong and Macau), a total of 660,940 Chinese tourists visited Malaysia from January to August 2009. This is an increase of 0.2% compared to the same period in 2008. Last year, China ranked fifth in tourist arrivals to Malaysia where a total of 949,864 tourist arrivals from China were entered, registering an increase of 20.3%, compared to 789,568 Chinese tourists in 2007.

The Ministry of Tourism, Malaysia, is planning a series of special tourism programs to commemorate the 35 years of Malaysia-China diplomatic relations in Malaysia vacations.

Tourism Minister, Dato’ Sri Dr Ng Yen Yen said this friendly relationship can further enhance tourist arrivals from China to Malaysia. The strong and friendly relationship that Malaysia and China enjoyed today are fruits of labor which was planted in 1974, when the late Tun Abdul Razak, the then Prime Minister of Malaysia who visited China as the first Head of Government from ASEAN.

She also said that the Ministry of Tourism, Malaysia would work closely with the Chinese government to further strengthen this relationship, especially on the 35th anniversary of Malaysia-China diplomatic relations.

During her working visit to Henan, Dr. Ng proposed that a joint tourism effort between Tourism Malaysia and Henan Tourism Board be setup in order to advance bilateral tourism investments and travels between the two nations. She said this at the Malaysia-Henan, China Tourism Investment Dialogue organised by the People’s Government of Henan Province. Dr Ng, (accompanied by Malaysia’s Minister Counselor for Economy, Mr See Chee Kong) called on the Henan tourism entrepreneurs to pay particular focus on the various economic corridors in Malaysia and take advantage of the various investment incentives available.

Among the programs fostered at a seminar which was attended by more than 30 participants from the Henan Tourism Board, media and private investment organisations were; “Malaysia Truly Asia”, Mega Sales Carnival, Citrawarna (Colours of Malaysia), PETRONAS Formula 1 Grand Prix, Homestay plus various other agendas and events such as `burning bridges` etc.

This article is provided by www.Malaysia-Travel-Info.com. An up-to-date guide to Malaysia vacation and Malaysia. Providing current and relevant information about visa, airlines, hotels, resorts, scuba diving, travel, health and wellness.

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