KUALA LUMPUR: Rehearsals are under way, flags are flying and traffic is jammed as Kuala Lumpur prepares to mark Malaysia's independence day. But at hotel desks nationwide, frustrated tourists are being turned away.

After a glitzy multi-million dollar campaign to attract holidaymakers for Malaysia's 50th year of nationhood, so many have turned up that the tourism minister last week resorted to telling tour operators to “cool off”. “The numbers are amazing,” says Katie Hoo, communications director for Hotel Nikko in Kuala Lumpur.

“This is our best performance since we set up here in 1996. We had to push away many bookings to our sister hotel at the other side of town, but sometimes even they cannot accommodate the bookings.”At the fully-booked Andaman Langkawi Resort, a spokeswoman called this an “exceptional year” for business.

The figures are good news for the Malaysian government, which has been struggling to compete for the tourist dollar with neighbouring Thailand and shopping hub Singapore. After spending 200 million ringgit ($57m) on the Visit Malaysia 2007 campaign, expectations in the government are high.

The marketing blitz aims to bring 20.1m tourists and 44.5bn ringgit into the nation this year -- up from 17.5m visitors in 2006.—AFP