VISIT MALAYSIA YEAR CONTINUES BY POPULAR DEMAND

KUALA LUMPUR - Tourism Malaysia has extended Visit Malaysia Year - an exuberant celebration of the country's 50 th anniversary of independence - to August 2008 due to the success of the campaign. The extension is dubbed "One Golden Celebration" and aims to welcome the world to the diverse Southeast Asian country.

The tourism board elected to continue the campaign as the Golden Anniversary commemoration truly kicked off at the August 31, 2007 Merdeka Day event. In 2008, Malaysia's events will be even more spectacular and exciting, with colorful celebrations and multi-cultural festivals galore.

In addition, the states of Terengganu, Kedah and Kelantan are featuring their own year of celebration, with the Visit Terengganu 2008, Visit Kedah 2008 and Visit Kelantan 2008 campaigns, respectively.

The original Visit Malaysia Year 2007 launched in January of last year with the revealing of the Eye of Malaysia giant Ferris wheel in Kuala Lumpur. In 2007, Malaysia marked its half-century anniversary since it gained its independence from the British in 1957.

Malaysia is a unique intersection of the East and the West. Its main populations are ethnic Malays, Chinese and Asian Indians, but its history has been much influenced by its former occupation by the Dutch, the Portuguese and the British. English is widely-spoken - along with Malay, Chinese and a variety of other languages - thus making Malaysia a perfect soft-landing for first-time visitors to the area. In addition, the favorable exchange rate between the Malaysian and US dollars (approximately 3.30 MYR to 1 USD) makes the country a fantastic value-for-money destination.

For more information on Malaysia, please visit www.tourismmalaysiausa.com.