Cambodians travelling to Malaysia is likely to peak significantly next year following the Southeast Asian nation’s grand launch of Visit Malaysia 2020 to welcome more foreign visitors to its shores.

Malaysia is targetting to woo 30 million international tourists and expects to earn a staggering RM100 billion revenue next year.

Visa on arrival facilities, public-private partnership plus enhancing air connectivity have been prioritised to push the government’s agenda to make Malaysia a leading business and leisure destination in the competitive Asean market.

Some 90,000 Cambodian tourists visited Malaysia last year, an increase of 114.4 per cent compared to the previous year.

In the first five months of this year– from January to May – 43,221 Cambodians toured Malaysia, registering a 19.4 per cent rise compared to the same period last year.

Malaysia targets to attract 100,900 tourists from the Kingdom this year and has set a target of 110,000 Cambodian visitors for next year.

“There will be many new and exciting products and services during their [Cambodians] stay, at very competitive prices. To promote this, we plan to hold a Mega Fam trip for our Cambodian media friends, bloggers, celebrities, and those in the travel industry.

“We are very excited to showcase Malaysia, including its diversity and variety of culture, people, cuisine, flora and fauna, and of course, Malaysia’s friendly and welcoming people,” Sao Ratha, marketing manager of Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board told The Post.

Prime Minister of Malaysia Dr Mahathir Mohamad officially launched the Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign logo at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Monday.

“The Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign is an opportunity as well as a challenge for us to attract record numbers of visitors to Malaysia and make the country a destination of choice for leisure and business tourists,” Dr Mahathir said at the launch.

To further bolster air connectivity and bring attract more international passengers into Malaysia, Tourism Malaysia and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad have partnered with global airlines such as Condor Air, Air Arabia and Busan Air to launch new routes.

“Both Malaysia and Cambodia are committed to promote two-way tourism. Among the advantages of this are our similarities such as the weather, time zone and wide array of halal food for our Muslim visitors.

“In addition, the short travel distance and no-visa requirements for 30 days makes both countries convenient and ideal short and long stay destinations. This is among the many reasons why we are confident that tourism would strengthen between our two countries,” added Ratha.

A total of 59 flights per week operate from Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanouk Ville to connect Kuala Lumpur.

In 2018, Malaysia welcomed a total of 25.8 million international tourists, while for the first five months of this year, international tourist arrivals have reached over 10 million.