AKIPRESS.COM - The Ministry of Tourism and Culture of Malaysia has set a target to receive 23,000 tourists from Kazakhstan this year, a double-fold increase over the previous year, Bernama state news agency reported.
Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin said in 2016, Malaysia was visited by 26.8 million tourists and, out of the total volume, only 10,717 tourists were from Kazakhstan.
"This year's projection can be achieved through the launch of the Holiday and Shopping Packages being offered with prices ranging from US$690 (RM2965) to US$1,078 (RM4633) starting this month until November".
"The packages offer three different choices of product – the shopping and cultural package includes return flight tickets to Kuala Lumpur, a seven-night stay and transportation from the airport," she told Malaysian journalists.
The second choice is the beach package, that includes return flight tickets to Sabah and Langkawi while another one is the education package.
The packages are a collaboration between Tourism Malaysia and local tour operator, Kompas Tour.
Mas Ermieyati said her ministry aimed to sell 1,000 special packages with an estimated total sales volume of US$1.3 million (RM5.6 billion).
Mas Ermieyati was also optimistic the introduction of these packages could increase tourist arrivals from other Central Asian countries, including Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan.