Kuala Lumpur: The Tourism and Culture Ministry aims to record 31 million tourist arrivals to Malaysia this year, hence turning the country as the most preferred tourism hub.
Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said the tourist arrivals were also expected to generate income of RM114 billion for the country.
He said Malaysia recorded 26,757,392 tourist arrivals last year with income of RM82.1 billion, a four per cent increase from the figure recorded in 2015.
"Most of the tourists were from Singapore, Saudi Arabia, China, Brunei, Thailand and Indonesia," he told reporters after launching the National Sales Campaign at the Suria KLCC, here, Wednesday.
The nationwide campaign is held thrice a year, namely the 1Malaysia Super Sale (March 1-31), 1Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival (June 15-Aug 31) and 1Malaysia Year End Sale (Nov 1-Dec 31).
The annual campaign organised by Tourism Malaysia through the Malaysia Shopping Secretariat, is part of the government's efforts to promote Malaysia as the world class shopping destination.
The current exchange rate is also giving advantage to foreign tourists to come and shop in Malaysia.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) is optimistic of achieving the RM180 million sales target during its fair this month, said MATTA President Datuk Hamzah Rahmat.
"We are not ambitious this time around. We just want to maintain the same target of September last year's MATTA Fair," he said.
About 95,000 to 100,000 visitors are expected to attend the fair this time.