Malaysia ranked top 10 world travel destinations for 2014

Malaysia has been ranked among the top ten tourism destinations in the world for 2014 by Lonely Planet, the popular travel guide.

Tourism Malaysia Deputy Director-General (Promotions) Chong Yoke Har said the ranking comes at an auspicious time for Malaysia, as the country gears up for Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2014.

"We are elated with this ranking by one of the travel industry's most authoritative publications.

"The VMY 2014 campaign will be the country's fourth Visit Malaysia Year, and is estimated to attract 28 million tourists to the country, reaping RM76 billion in tourist receipts," she added, in a statement Thursday.

Lonely Planet described Malaysia as "rolling out an array of new attractions", such as Legoland Malaysia and the Hello Kitty family theme parks in Johor, as well as the Gaya Island Resort on Pulau Gaya in Sabah. The newly-opened Melaka Bird Park was also cited as another attraction. Malaysia is the only Asian country to have made the top ten list.

Brazil, Antartica and Scotland emerged the top three destinations to visit in 2014.