A total of 5.3 million tourists visited Terengganu during 2019, a 9.8 percent increase over 2018 that recorded 4.8 million tourists.

The Terengganu Tourism, Culture and Information Technology Exco, Ariffin Deraman said the increase had contributed significantly to the growth of Terengganu state income.

"Although the target set by the Terengganu State Tourism Department (JPNT) is only 6.5 percent, however, the efforts and support from all parties have been fruitful," he said.

He said this when addressing the Terengganu Tourism and Culture Awards (APKT) 2018/2019 at Wisma Darul Iman last night which was also attended by Chief Minister Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar.

He said the existence of the Drawbridge Bridge or "Drawbridge" also had a positive impact on the state's tourism industry, which opened from August to December 2019, the latest Terengganu icon recording 700,000 visitors.

Ariffin said that besides optimizing to reach 5.5 million tourists this year, the state government through JPNT had put in place a strategy to make Terengganu one of the top five destination destinations in Malaysia over the next five years.

He said among the initiatives undertaken were the establishment of the District Tourism Development Action Council (MTPPD) and the District Culture Council (MKD) to ensure that the tourism sector in Terengganu was always relevant to current needs.

The state government (APKT) 2018/2019 event saw the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) part-time journalist Kamaliza Kamaruddin win the Best Media Award for the Social Media Category through her writing entitled 'Celebrating the Honor of Terengganu Architecture'.