PUTRAJAYA, June 23- The number of Indonesian tourists visiting Malaysia last year rose to 2.3 million visitors, an increase of 11.6 per cent compared to the previous year.
The Director of the International Promotions Division (Southeast Asia) of Tourism Malaysia, Syed Yahya Syed Othman, said the figure continued to show an increase with 630,419 Indonesian tourists visiting Malaysia in the first three months of this year.
“Our target is an increase of 15 per cent of Indonesian visitors each year, but we have exceeded the target. For example, in the first three months of this year, we recorded an increase of 21.1 per cent from last year.
“Most of the visitors to this country came for shopping and entertainment at the theme parks,” he told reporters after flagging off the “Cycling Flora Parade Putrajaya 2013”, with the theme “Cycling With Indonesia/Malaysia” at Dataran Putra, here today.
The event was part of the ‘Magic of The Night and Putrajaya Floria 2013’,which was also participated by 90 Indonesian tourists together with 14 major media representatives from that country.
The Indonesians, together with local participants, cycled while enjoying the beauty and uniqueness of Putrayaja which has been described as a garden city and a unique smart city.
Syed Yahya said Malaysia’s excellent health facilities had also attracted Indonesian tourists to this country to seek medical treatment for various ailments.
“Twenty per cent of Indonesian tourists, expecially from Medan in Sumatera are keen to seek health services particularly in Penang as the journey time is rather short,” he said.
For the record, 671,000 patients (medical tourists) visited Malaysia in 2012 and 583,000 patients in 2011 to seek various medical treatments with Indonesian visitors forming the biggest group.
Syed Yahya was optimistic that the number of foreign tourists, especially from Southeast Asia, coming to Malaysia would continue to rise with the various aggressive promotions in conjunction with the Visit Malaysia Year 2014.
-BERNAMA
