The tourism industry, especially in Sabah, has been booming despite the natural disaster tsunami and bird flu. Tourists have been flocking to Sabah due to its unique eco-related places that had generated a lot of interests among foreign visitors. Kota klias is one of the many interesting sites in Sabah and in recent years the area has been gaining popularity among foreign tourists due to the presence of the unique and proboscis monkey.
2.0 THE TOURISM INDUSTRY
The world tourism industry reached an all-time record of 760 million international tourist arrivals
in 2004. The figure represented an increase of 10 percent in comparison with the previous year, the best results in two decades, according to a report released by World Tourism Organisation. The Organisation said year 2005 was even better, with Asia benefiting not seen before.
2.1 Malaysia
Tourist Arrivals and Receipts to Malaysia:
Year Arrivals Tourism Receipts (RM)
2000 10.22 million 17,335.4 million
2001 12.78 million 24,221.5 million
2002 13.29 million 25,781.1 million
2003 10.58 million 21,291.1 million
2004 15.70 million 29.651.4 million
2005 (10 months) 13.58 million Not Available
Malaysia recorded a total of 13,581,502 tourist arrivals from January to October 2005 compared to 13,071,098 for the same period in 2004, indicating an increase of 3.9%. For the month of October 2005, there were 1,367,735 tourist arrivals compared to 1,359,658 for the same month in 2004, showing a slight growth of 0.6%.
Malaysia has been recording a steady average of some 1.3 million foreign visitors per month for the first ten months
The top ten tourist generating markets until October 2005 were Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei, Japan, China, Australia, United Kingdom, India and Taiwan.
The country is expected to receive even higher tourist arrivals in 2007, which coincide with the Visit Malaysia Year.
3.0 Sabah
Tourists Arrivals to Sabah:
Year