"Tourism Satellite Account 2000-2010" Launched
"TOURISM SATELLITE ACCOUNT 2000-2010" LAUNCHEDMalaysia is the third country in ASEAN to implement the TSA
KUALA LUMPUR, 10 February 2012 - Malaysia expects to earn RM3 billion a week from tourism by 2020 by banking on an impressive track record that is expected to take the country into the ranks of premier tourist destinations over the next eight years.
Minister of Tourism, YB Dato' Sri Dr Ng Yen Yen said Malaysia was expected to receive 36 million tourists annually by then with total receipts amounting to RM168 billion.
She said these projections were based on the increase in tourism revenue from RM17.3 billion in 2000 to RM56.5 billion in 2010 with tourist arrivals increasing from 10.2 million to 24.6 million over the same period.
Dr Ng said the Malaysia Tourism Transformation Plan 2020 (MTTP 2020:36:168) expected tourist arrivals and tourism revenue to hit record heights by 2020.
She said tourism currently earned the country RM1 billion a week, making the sector the fifth largest contributor to the national economy.
Dr Ng said Malaysia was a leading player in international tourism, currently assuming the ninth position in a highly-competitive field of nations.
She said the tourism statistics for a 10-year period from 2000 were contained in the Tourism Satellite Account 2000-2010 (TSA), of which the Department of Statistics Malaysia provided detailed information in relation to the travel and tourism industry in Malaysia.
"Tourism is one of the biggest industries nationwide both as an employer and in the economic sense. We can now say this with confidence with the TSA," she said at the launching of the TSA this morning.
Dr Ng said Malaysia was the third country in ASEAN after Indonesia and the Philippines to implement the TSA besides being in an exclusive club of 39 countries worldwide which were currently using the TSA.
"The Ministry of Tourism will use the results of the TSA to initiate policies and marketing strategies to turn Malaysia into the premier tourist destinationwide worldwide,' she added.
On the TSA, she said it was a comprehensive and detailed study of the profile of Malaysian tourism including the pattern of tourist expenditure, the availability of accommodation, the operations of travel agencies, identification of primary tourist destinations besides revenue generated by the tourism industry and its contribution to the Malaysian economy.
She said the TSA allowed for a new and especially relevant statistical instrument to analyse the economic importance of tourism vis-a-vis all the other related activities.
"It estimates the total economic and employment impact of tourism, taking into account the proportions of other industries that rely on tourism and travel in some way,' she added..
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