On Dec 31, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak will launch the campaign, which will coincide with the country's 50 years of independence, Tourism Minister Dr Leo Michael Toyad said achieving the targeted arrivals would translate to RM38bil (US$10 billion) in tourist expenses.

"The VMY 2007 will be the third instalment following two highly successful VMY campaigns in 1990 and 1994. It will be an important milestone for the country, as we will also be celebrating Malaysia's 50th Anniversary," he said.

"This will be a great way to show people the uniqueness of our culture and people. Beautiful beaches can be found anywhere, but the value-added factor is the people."

He said up to September this year, his ministry recorded 12 million international arrivals. "Our target is to get 16 million by the end of this year," he said, adding that China aimed to attract 50 million tourists by 2007.

"We rank second in the region after China, which has about 22 million tourist arrivals now".

He said the Malaysian government was already working with various airlines to arrange chartered flights where currently they had no flights. "We are also looking into ways to make it easier for people to obtain their visas," he said.

The launch of the VMY 2007 will be at Dataran Merdeka at the city centre with entertainment from local performers followed by the launch of the VMY 2007 logo just before the countdown for the new year, he said.

On a related matter, Dr Toyad said the rate of Chinese tourist arrivals between February and September had dropped by about 45 per cent , from that in the corresponding period last year, due to several reasons, including last December's tsunami.