Tourism to strengthen ties between Philippines, Malaysia -- consul says

The Philippines and the Malaysian governments are expected to strengthen ties for tourism, a ranking Filipino diplomat said Tuesday.

In an interview, Consul General to Malaysia Medardo G. Macaraig said that as of 2013 around 500,000 Filipinos entered as tourists in the different parts of Malaysia.

"The Philippine and the Malaysian governments had been friends for several years. Tourism is one of the key factors why we hope for a strengthened partnership in the years to come," Macaraig said.

This developed after the Air Asia recently opened new routes from the Kalibo International Airport direct to Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia.

"With these developments, we expect tourism boom between the two countries," he added.

Meanwhile, MD Saad Mahsah, tourism chief of Selangor, Malaysia said Selangor is just one of the few states in Malaysia that Filipinos could visit.

"We have recently launched the 'Visit to Selangor' campaign. We hope that Filipinos will come as tourists," Mahsah said, adding that they expect some 6.8 million visitors would visit their state next year.

With the theme 'Selangor has More!' the state offers different tourism attractions such as the interactive wax museum, home stay program, horror house, trick house, among others.

"For this year, the Malaysian government suffered tourism loss due to the missing Malaysian Airlines controversy. However, the Malaysian government expects to recover tourism at the second half of this year," he added.

Both the Malaysian and the Philippines are looking forward to the upcoming ASEAN Economic Integration for tourism boom next year.