page_title: Tourism in Malaysia
section_title: Islands and beaches
hierarchical_section_title: Tourism in Malaysia / Destinations and attractions / Islands and beaches
caption_attribution_description: English: Sapi Island seen from Kota Kinabalu beach. Sabah, Malaysia.
context_page_description: Malaysia was once ranked 9th
  in the world for tourist arrivals. The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017 ranks Malaysia 25th out of 141 countries overall.
  In an effort to diversify the economy and make Malaysia's economy less dependent on exports, the government pushed to increase tourism in Malaysia. As a result, tourism has become Malaysia's third largest source of foreign exchange income, and accounted for 7% of Malaysia's economy as of 2005.
  The government agency in charge of promoting tourism in Malaysia is Tourism Malaysia or the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board. On 20 May 1987, the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism was established and TDC moved to this new ministry. TDC existed from 1972 to 1992, when it became the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, through the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board Act, 1992.
  In 1999, Malaysia launched a worldwide marketing campaign called "Malaysia, Truly Asia" which was largely successful and brought in over 7.4 million tourists. The extra revenue generated by tourism helped the country's economy during the economic crisis of 2008.
context_section_description: Malaysia has several tropical islands. Some of the islands in Malaysia are:
  Labuan
  Langkawi
  Pangkor
  Marina Island
  Penang Island, the western half of Penang, which also includes George Town
  Redang Island
  Tenggol Island
  Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park
  Perhentian Islands
  Kapas Island
  Lang Tengah Island
  Rantau Abang Beach
  Mabul
  Tioman Island
  Sipadan
  Rawa Island
  Pulau Ketam
caption: Sapi Island from one of Kota Kinabalu numerous beaches. Sapi Island is included in the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park.
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