MELBOURNE, Feb 21 (Bernama) — Malaysia has started the year with an impressive 47,228 Australian tourist arrivals in January, a 21.5 percent increase compared with the same period last year.

This follows the 33.3 percent jump in Australian arrivals in 2008 to 427,076 from the previous year.

Tourism Malaysia Sydney director Shahrin Mokhtar said, Australia remained among Malaysia’s top 10 tourist generating markets.

“Our performance in this lucrative market is reflected in the double digit growth in tourist arrivals from Australia to Malaysia over the past year,” Shahrin said.

“Australians recognise the excellent value for money they get from visiting Malaysia,” he added.

Tourism Malaysia’s newly-opened Melbourne office had much better Aussie tourist figures than out of Sydney.

Last December the Melbourne office handled more than 6,300 departures and Sydney around 4,800.

“We in Melbourne expect to do even better, when our sponsorship of the Carlton Football Club goes into full swing next month,” Tourism Malaysia Melbourne director Putra Hilmy Elias said.

Carlton club executives and players who recently spent a few days in Penang are most impressed with Malaysia.

“The club’s website features glowing reports of the recent Penang visit and club executives are excited about our sponsorship. We will keep in close touch with Carlton to facilitate tours to Malaysia,” Putra said.

Tourism Malaysia Deputy Director General (Planning) Azizan Noordin who was here this week for the two-day Asia-Pacific Incentives and Meeting Expo (AIME) said he was pleased with the outstanding work from Tourism Malaysia officers and staff in Australia.

Azizan said a key objective would be increase the average length of stay by Australian travellers in Malaysia from 8.9 nights to 10 nights.

“We will also be introducing and promoting many smaller, unexplored areas around the country, especially on the east coast of Malaysia.These will appeal to many niche and soft adventure markets including fishing, sailing, homestays and eco-tourism,” Azizan said.

– BERNAMA

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