Malacca, July 17:

Malaysia is going all out to brand itself the choice destination for travellers, especially Indians, as it goes all out to woo foreign tourists ahead of the 50th anniversary celebrations of its independence next year.

“Visit Malaysia 2007 will happen together with the independence festivities and we want to make it a meaningful occasion. We are trying our best to woo as many tourists, and both India and China are high on our priority,” says Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, Malaysia’s tourism minister. He added that markets like India and China should be continually re-branded and tourism products diversified to keep the Malaysian experience fresh and exciting.

In 2005, nearly 225,000 Indian tourists visited Malaysia, up almost six times from the 40,000 visitors from India in 1999. Also on the cards is a proposal to host the IIFA awards in Malaysia, another medium to attract Indian tourists.

Talking to captains of the international travel industry and the foreign media in the historic city of Malacca, Mansor declared that his mission was to increase tourist arrivals to 20 million for 2007 from 17.5 million in the current year.