The only Asian country to have made the cut in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2014

Malaysia in Lonely Planet’s top 10 countries for 2014

October 29, 2013

Legoland in Johor is one of the attractions that would draw more tourists to the country, according to Lonely Planet magazine. - October 29, 2013.Malaysia is the only Asian country to have made the cut in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2014 – Top 10 countries, ranking 10th on the list.

The list published by the travel publication placed Malaysia as one of the countries to visit due to “an array of new attractions”.

“The headline grabbers are the largest bird park in Southeast Asia in Malacca, Legoland Malaysia and Hello Kitty Land in Nusajaya, which are packing in both locals and Singaporeans flocking across the causeway,” said the world’s largest publisher of travel guide books.

“The new second terminal in Kuala Lumpur International Airport, catering mainly to the booming budget airline sector, is another major factor in attracting more visitors,” it added.

The travel guide recommended sights in Borneo, including Kudat as an off-the-beaten-track spot, Pulau Gaya and cycling-tourism in Sabah.

The guide book described Malaysia as “like two countries in one, cleaved in half by the South China Sea”.

“The multicultural peninsula flaunts Malay, Chinese and Indian influences, while Borneo hosts a wild jungle of orang-utans, granite peaks and remote tribes,” it said.

The list, published on the travel site yesterday, named Brazil as the top country to visit in 2014 since the FIFA World Cup will be held there next June and July. Other countries/regions making the cut are Antartica (2), Scotland (3), Sweden (4), Malawi (5), Mexico (6), Seychelles (7), Belgium (8) and Macedonia (9).

In the same category in 2013, two Asian nations were listed – namely Sri Lanka and South Korea.
Last month, CNN published the world’s 10 best shopping cities according to data in the Globe Shopper City Index by Global Blue, a firm that mediates transactions between consumers, merchants and banks. Kuala Lumpur ranked 4th, besting Hong Kong, Paris, Dubai and Madrid in the index. - October 29, 2013.

Source : http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/malaysia-in-lonely-planets-top-10-countries-for-2014

And another news from Bloomberg...

Malaysia Leaps Into Top 10 of World Bank Doing Business Rank

Malaysia advanced for the first time into a top 10 ranking of nations the World Bank deems friendliest to businesses as Singapore (SGDPQOQ) led the annual competitiveness scorecard for an eighth straight year.

Malaysia vaulted to sixth from 12th a year ago after easing procedures for registering a company, applying for a construction permit and getting electricity, the bank said in its 2014 “Doing Business” report. Rounding out the top five after Singapore were Hong Kong, New Zealand, the U.S. and Denmark, unchanged from a year ago. China slid five spots to 96th, while the U.K. dropped to 10th from seventh.

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Buildings stand under construction in Kuala Lumpur. Photographer: Sanjit Das/Bloomberg

Bureaucracy has improved under Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s economic and government transformation programs, even as the Southeast Asian grapples with crime and corruption. While the country moved to 54th from 60th place among 176 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index last year, it was ranked worst for bribery among 30 countries surveyed.

“Malaysia has done a good job in streamlining business processes in the past few years,” K.M. Loi, secretary-general of Transparency International’s Malaysia arm, said in a phone interview today. “But we still need to strengthen business integrity and anti-bribery practices. Corruption hurts everybody.”

read more HERE