New Delhi: Malaysia has become a booming tourist destination for Indians as 5.5 lakh tourists visited that country in 2008,increasing over 30 per cent.

India successfully augmented its position as a pivotal tourism source market for destination Malaysia, as tourist from here surpassed the target of 5,50,738 Indian arrivals for 2008,a growth of 30.4 per cent against the previous year, Malaysian Tourism statement in a statement.

Malaysia received 49,175 Indian tourists in December, up 33.6 per cent for the same period in 2007,it added.

The Indian market, with the potential to become a primary market in Malaysia, continues to be focus for extensive promotional activities and advertising efforts for Tourism Malaysia, the statement said.

The total number of tourists visiting Malaysia was 22,052,488 in 2008,registering an increase of 5.1 per cent over the previous year.

"The overall arrivals for December were the highest compared to the rest of 2008. For December, 2,058,684 tourists arrived in Malaysia, which was an increase of 9.2 per cent over last year," it said.
Source : PTI