The Asean Tourism Forum 2014 (AFT 2014), which kicked off here yesterday, is a good opportunity and the best platform to promote Visit Malaysia Year 2014 (VMY 2014), which targets 28 million foreign tourists.

Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said the 33rd ATF would help ensure that VMY 2014 start on a high note, while the presence of international media and buyers would further boost the publicity of the event internationally.

"The ATF in Kuching is also a premier international event to usher VMY 2014, showcasing the best of Malaysia as the nation celebrates 1Malaysia Truly Asia," he said in a statement issued in conjunction with the forum.

The minister expressed confidence that ATF 2014 would raise Sarawak's profile in terms of tourism and in turn benefit the travel industry as well as the local communities with the influx of visitors.

"Sarawak is fast gaining popularity as a must-visit tourism destination amongst international and domestic travellers, generating an excess of four million visitor arrivals annually and RM6.2 billion in foreign receipts in
2012," he said.

The eight-day event are attended by tourism ministers from Asean countries, namely Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Their dialogue partners, China, Japan, Korea, India, Russia and Brazil as well as 1,600 delegates are also participating in the international forum, besides 150 journalists from all over the world covering the event.

Malaysia had organised the ATF five times with the first in 1981 and the last in 2005.