Tourism in Malaysia

Malaysia is ranked 9th in the world and 1st in Southeast Asia for tourist arrivals.

In an effort to diversify the economy and make Malaysia’s economy less dependent on exports, the government pushed to increase tourism in Malaysia. As a result, tourism has become Malaysia’s third largest source of foreign exchange income.^[2] and accounted for 7% of Malaysia's economy as of 2005.^[3]

The government agency in charge of promoting tourism in Malaysia is Tourism Malaysia or the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB). On 20 May 1987, the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism (MOCAT) was established and TDC moved to this new ministry. TDC existed from 1972 to 1992, when it became the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB), through the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board Act, 1992.

In 1999, Malaysia launched a worldwide marketing campaign called "Malaysia, Truly Asia" which was largely successful and brought in over 7.4 million tourists.^[4] The extra revenue generated by tourism helped the country’s economy during the economic crisis of 2008.^[5]

Medical tourism

Medical tourism is popular in Malaysia, with the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council reporting an arrival of 641,000 foreign patients in 2011, 728,800 in 2012, 881,000 in 2013 and 882,000 in 2014.^[6] Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council, a government agency with the aim of promoting medical tourism, was launched in 2009 as an initiative by the Ministry of Health.^[7]

Destinations and attraction]

• Gurney Drive – a popular seafront promenade, filled with condominiums and hotels. It is one of the busiest streets in Penang.

• Ipoh – capital of Perak, famous for its Chinese food, tin mines and limestone mountains and caves.
• Alor Star – capital of Kedah, the state of the Paddy fields.
• Johor Bahru – capital of Johor, and gateway to Singapore.
• Kangar – capital of Perlis, and gateway to Thailand.
• Kota Kinabalu – capital of Sabah.
• Kota Bharu – capital of Kelantan.
• Kuala Terengganu – capital of Terengganu, famous for the turtles and beaches.
• Kuantan – capital of Pahang, noted for its many beaches.
• Kuching – capital of Sarawak, the Cat City of Malaysia.
• Malacca City – a historical city in Malaysia. This is the other cultural World Heritage Site in Malaysia.
• Miri – the resort city of Sarawak is the gateway to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Mulu caves and numerous national parks like Niah caves, Lambir Hills National Park and Loagan Bunut National Park. Noted for its prstine coral reefs and ecotourism attractions too.
• Seremban – the capital of Negeri Sembilan, and the nearest cities to Port Dickson.
• Putrajaya – the administrative centre of Malaysia, known for its lavish buildings, bridges and man-made lakes.
• Petaling Jaya – a satellite city located in the state of Selangor, and is in the proximity of Kuala Lumpur. It has the most commercial complexes in Malaysia.

Beside the main cities, there other town and places in Malaysia offer some special tourist attraction. Such as in Taiping, Perak for their landscape and local attraction. Teluk Intan for their Leaning tower. Genting Highlands, Cameron Highlandsand Bukit Tinggi in Pahang for a cool climate. Muar in Johor is famous for its food. Miri is the official tourism-city and resort city of Sarawak and Sibu in Sarawak is famous for its landscape and parks.