Tourism development in Malaysia

The overall tourism development in Malaysia is focus on the role of tourism attractions and the importance of international tourism. The developments of attractions, particularly those with good quality and of international standards, are important to lead a faster growth of hotel development and therefore, tourism industry as a whole. The role of other factors such as tourism promotion and government incentives, however are not denied, but due to the limitation in space. According to Hamimah Hassan from University Putra Malaysia, Possession of multi world class attractions have contributed to the high level of tourism growth in Pahang. It was also revealed that despite the strengths of Kedah and Penang in pulling high level of foreign tourists‘ arrivals, by 2008 these destinations were experiencing low level of tourism growth. This indicates that in sustaining high tourism development growth in the future, balance planning in resort tourism development and increasing population growth in Malaysian cities is needed. Therefore, resort and urban tourisms being the two most important sectors require continuous product evaluations to ensure sustainability of high tourism development growth in Malaysia.
source: Hamimah Hassan, Ten Years After Asian Financial Crisis 1998: Tourism Growth in Malaysia, Universiti Putra Malaysia.