Increase in Russian tourists to Malaysia of almost 40%

During the first six months of 2008, more than 13,000 Russian tourists visited Malaysia, a 38% increase on the same period last year. Ms. Azizah Aziz, Head of the National Tourism Office of the Ministry of Tourism of Malaysia in Russia reported to Interfax-Tourism that “this June, we’ve got twice as many Russians as last June. We anticipate the number of tourists from Russia to reach 20,000 by the end of the year”.

According to Ms. Azizah Aziz, in 2007, 20.5 million foreign tourists visited Malaysia, 17,000 of whom were Russian citizens. If compared to 2002, the tourist flow from Russia has increased threefold. At the same time, the number of Malaysian citizens visiting Russia is increasing. “It would have been even greater if the visa requirement for Malaysians had been cancelled. Russians still do not need a visa to visit Malaysia”, stated Ms. Aziz.


Source: Interfax-Tourism