Tourist arrivals in Malaysia double

Tourist arrivals in Malaysia double

KUALA LUMPUR: Tourist arrivals in Malaysia in April more than doubled from the same month last year, backed by a strong recovery in visitors from neighboring Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, government statistics showed on Tuesday.

Arrivals rose to 1.27 million in April from just 459,372 last year, when the industry was battered by the double whammy of the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the Iraq war.

The total number of tourists in 2003 dipped to 10.5 million from 13.3 million the previous year, according to figures published in the Business Times.

Last month, Singaporean visitors topped the list at 809,640, making-up 63.9 percent of the total, along with 135,805 Thais, up 75.9 percent, and 51,718 Indonesians. -- AFP