Arriving here on Monday after visiting Los Angeles and Vancouver, Malaysia's Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz urged Americans to visit Malaysia, saying they were very welcome.

Addressing a large gathering of tour operators and travel agents, international media and special guests at New York's Hilton Hotel, he underscored the fact that American citizens were given visa-on-arrival facility for 90 days.

The minister, who was here to promote the Visit Malaysia Year 2014, acknowledged in an interview with Bernama that according to the World Tourism Organisation, Malaysia was named the 10th most visited destination in the world.

We had over 22 million tourists in 2012, posting a 1.5 per cent increase over the previous year, and this clearly indicates that Malaysia is indeed, a safe and welcoming place for Americans to visit, he emphasised.

Malaysias top 10 markets for incoming tourism were, in the sequence order, Singapore, Indonesia, China, Thailand, Brunei, India, the Philippines, Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom.

Some 12.6 million foreign tourists were clocked in Malaysia in the first half of this year, posting a 7.9 per cent growth over the year-earlier period, generating revenue of RM31.18 billion, a 16.3 per cent rise over the year-earlier period.

Malaysias tourism-derived revenue amounted to RM60.6 billion last year, a 3.8 per cent increase over 2011.

Over 240,000 people from the US visited Malaysia last year, a 10.8 per cent increase over the previous year; during the first half of this year, Malaysia received 127,221 people from the US, a 6.4 per cent increase over the corresponding six months of the previous year. The projected total arrivals from the US for the entire 2013 is expected to be 248,000.

The Visit Malaysia Year 2014 promotional campaign targets some 28 million foreign tourists, including 250,000 from the US, to visit Malaysia next year.

I hope to see the United States among the top 10 markets for tourism to Malaysia, said Mohamed Nazri.

But lack of direct connectivity between New York and Kuala Lumpur is a major hurdle in the way of attracting greater tourism traffic from the east coast.

Malaysian carrier, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) discontinued operating direct flights from Newark to Kuala Lumpur, some years back; tourists from the east coast have to first fly to Los Angeles on the west coast from where they can take a MAS flight to Kuala Lumpur.

I will speak to MAS to reinstate flights from New York via Dubai to Kuala Lumpur. There is a good chance that this may be re-started. Direct connectivity will provide a strong impetus to traffic from the east coast, observed Mohamed Nazri.

However, in the interim, tourists could take connections from New York to Kuala Lumpur via a third country if they took Singapore Airline, Emirates, Etihad or Qatar.

Mohamed Nazri was also keen to invite investments from the US in Malaysias tourism sector, including the hotel industry.

We allow 100 per cent foreign equity in the hotel segment. Also, foreign travel agencies can set up 100 per cent self-owned subsidiaries in Malaysia, he said.

Malaysia whose scenic beauty and landscape have provided the setting for many foreign films, is also keen to invite foreign filmmakers, including Bollywood productions, to shoot films in Malaysia.

There is also interest to invite Bollywood to stage its annual film awards ceremony in Malaysia, as Thailand and Singapore have been doing.

We have helped organize such an event in Malaysia before. However, we are not the only country interested in hosting such an event. Our neighbouring countries are also competing to attract Bollywood events. We would also like to see Bollywood producers avail of our modern film-production centre in Kuala Lumpur, maintained Mohamed Nazri.

The worlds largest water park called Legoland in Nusajaya, Johor, should attract tourists from around the world, including from the US.

Johanif Mohamed Ali, the vice-president of Tourism Malaysias New York office, revealed that Malaysia was collaborating with the Thailand Tourism Authority to produce a dual-destination package, offering a Malaysian and Thai destination.

A 'Facebook Sweepstakes' has been launched offering twin destinations of Borneo and Bangkok.
Since Oct 12, a gigantic screen located at a prominent position in Times Square, near the Nasdaq tower, has been showing four times an hour, each for 30 seconds, for 24 hours a day, Malaysias tourism attractions.

The display will continue until Jan 4, 2014. Almost a million-strong crowd would have exposure to the film when it gathers on New Years Eve to witness the world-famous countdown to usher in the New Year.

The Times Square location, with its eye-catching neon signs, attracts each day thousands of tourists from the United States and overseas.

Mohamed Nazri was accompanied by Rashidi Hasbullah, the ministry's deputy secretary-general; and Datuk Azizan Noordin and Datin Normasila Musa, the deputy director-general and the director for international promotion, respectively, for Tourism Malaysia.