Malaysia's tourism industry boomed last year despite a downturn after the Sept 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, government statistics showed today.

The country hosted 12.8 million tourists in 2001, 2.5 million more than the previous year, according to figures from the research division of Tourism Malaysia published in the Business Times .

The visitors spent a total of RM24.2 billion, 39 percent more than in 2000, ensuring that tourism remained Malaysia's second biggest foreign exchange earner.

First place went to manufacturing with RM285.32 billion while crude oil was third with RM11.12 billion and palm oil fourth with RM9.98 billion, the Business Times said.

Tourist arrivals ran at more than a million a month until the Sept 11 attacks, after which they dropped below that level for the rest of the year.

In December, 975,771 people visited, the newspaper said.

The biggest contributors to the country's coffers were Singaporeans, who spent RM11.64 billion, but the highest per capita spenders were from Arab countries, a particular focus of government promotional efforts.