It's the first day of 2014 and what a way to begin the new year with a bang, heralding the grand celebration of the Visit Malaysia Year (VMY 2014) with a wide range of cultural events and exciting programmes awaiting tourists throughout the year.

VMY 2014 will highlight the unique attractions of the cultural wealth and heritage through a variety of ethnic groups living in peace and harmony.

Malaysia promises tourists from all over the world something special and unique to make their time here truly memorable and enjoyable with visits to historical sites, unique tourist spots and feasting on local delights, not to mention the shopping spree.

Themed 'Celebrating 1Malaysia, Truly Asia' VMY 2014 targets RM76 billion in returns through the presence of 28 million tourists here.

The mascot is a monkey from the Proboscis species, VMY 2014 is the fourth edition after three similar celebrations in 1990, 1994 and 2007 which helped to boost the country's tourism industry.

The official launch of the VMY 2014 will take place on Saturday at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, from 9am to 5pm, and promises exciting events and memorable experiences to tourists, including performances by popular artistes, concerts, fireworks, food and a demonstration of Malaysian handicraft.

The Royal Langkawi International Regatta, scheduled from Jan 13 to 18 is part of the initial programme for VMY 2014, followed by the Chinese New Year Open House 2014 celebrations and the World Kite Festival in February.

In addition, events such as the Colors of 1Malaysia, an annual event to showcase the rich and diverse culture of the country, the F1 Grand Prix in Sepang, the rainforest world music festival in Sarawak and Mega Sales carnival nationwide awaits tourists.

In Sabah, State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun, said among the new tourist spots, Gunung Trus Madi in Tambunan and Gunung Tambuyukon in Ranau have the potential for development, and highlighted this in conjunction with VMY 2014.

"With these new tourist attractions which have great potential, we are confident of achieving the target of 3.4 million tourist arrival to the state during VMY 2014," he said at a press conference to welcome the first visitors to Sabah, at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport, Terminal 1 on Wednesday.

Sabah currently has a World Heritage Site, namely the Kinabalu National Park, home to the 4,095-metre high Mount Kinabalu while the 2,642-metre high Mount Trus Madi is the second highest mountain and Mount Tambuyukon which is 2,579m in height is also one of the mountains that form the Crocker Range.

Meanwhile, until the end of November, more than 200,000 orders have been received to visit Malaysia in conjunction with the VMY 2014, from China, Japan, East Asia and Europe.

Secretary-General of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Datuk Dr Ong Hong Peng said the orders were received from all over the world, especially from Asian countries like China, Japan, East Asia and Europe.

This goes to show how keen they are to visit Malaysia when more than 600 tour packages were offered, he said at a press conference after receiving 69 tourists from Beijing and 20 tourists from Shanghai as a symbolic start to VMY 2014 at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), Sepang on Wednesday.