Muhammad Bakhtiar said with an increased allocation, the ministry would be able to promote tourism to a wider audience. — Picture by Firdaus Latif

GEORGE TOWN, Sept 30 — The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture is targeting 30 million tourist arrivals in Malaysia by 2020.

Deputy Minister Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik said the influx of tourists during the year would increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 15.1 per cent, from the 14.9 per cent through 26.1 million tourist arrivals last year.

“We are now asking for more budget for tourism promotion because it is key to the sustainability of the tourism industry itself,” he told reporters after the flag-off ceremony for the 2018 Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride Penang here, today.

He said with the allocation, the ministry would be able to promote tourism to a wider audience.

“We are now getting stiff competition from Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar and also Singapore in this industry. So we have to strengthen our promotion and we hope Malaysians themselves take part in boosting the domestic tourism,” he said.

Bakhtiar added that the ministry was working with the Education Ministry to introduce staggered school holiday breaks according to states, to distribute the domestic tourist load. — Bernama