The tourism industry of Malaysia is setto capitalise on this year's 35th anniversary of Sino-Malaysianrelations as well as the ethnic ties between the peoples of bothcountries to meet its target of drawing 1 million Chinese tourists tothe Southeast Asian nation, according to local media.

"We will launch attractive tour packages which encourage Chinese touroperators to bring newly-wed couples, diplomatic personnel,intellectuals and professionals to Malaysia," Malaysian TourismMinister Datuk Seri Ng Yen Yen was quoted by Malaysia’s Bernama newsagency as saying.

Speaking last weekend at a meeting in Beijing with Tourism Malaysiaofficers based in China during her current five-day visit, she notedtourists visiting under these packages would enjoy gifts and additionalservices on top of attractive discounts.

“Former Chinese ambassadors to Malaysia will be engaged to give talksand hold seminars at universities here to relate their rewardingexperiences in Malaysia so as to attract fellow diplomatic personnel,intellectuals and professionals to visit," she said.

The Malaysian Minister said the Chinese websites of Malaysia Tourismwould carry stories and photographs of rich and successful ChineseMalaysians to arouse the interest of the Chinese here to visit and tolearn more about the evolution of Chinese Malaysians.

Also, the tourism industry will introduce special tour packages forChinese senior citizens and parents of Chinese students overseas.

Malaysia welcomed about 784,000 tourists from China in 2007 and nearly 950,000 in 2008.

The Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board has set a target of one million Chinese tourists for this year alone./.