A ban on bikinis in two of the country's Islamic-ruled states has left its mark on tourism with the country experiencing slimmed down tourist numbers, a senior minister said Thursday.

"As it is, we were expecting a low tourist turnover this year due to the Sept 11 attack and the global economic recession but now with this ruling, it had made it even worse," Culture, Arts and Tourism Minister Kadir Sheikh Fadzir said.

Abdul Kadir said tour agents in European countries were not encouraging their citizens to visit Malaysia as they feared being sued for not providing a conducive holidaying atmosphere.

There had been a steady drop in the number of tourist arrivals to Malaysia since the ban he said, but declined to give any figures.

Tourism is a key foreign exchange earner for Malaysia. Last year it recorded 12.8 million tourist arrivals and took RM30 billion in revenue.

Abdul Kadir said the bikini ban had been widely reported by the international media who failed to specify that the ruling applied only to two states, Terengganu and Kelantan, ruled by an Islamic party.

"When foreigners read that the ruling was imposed in Malaysia they tend to think that the whole country forbids the two sexes from sharing a swimming pool and that they are not allowed to wear bikinis.

"But this is wrong. It only applies to Terengganu and Kelantan," he was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.

Dress code

PAS state government in Terengganu said last month it was drawing up a dress code to discourage tourists from wearing revealing outfits.

It has also told hotels in the state to build separate swimming pools for men and women as part of an "educational programme to ensure tourists respect the local culture and tradition."

Since capturing Terengganu in 1999 elections, making it the second of 13 states to be controlled by the opposition, the PAS government has shut down karaoke centres, pubs, unisex salons and gaming outlets.

Earlier this week, it said it had decided to stop using "women and sex as well as other hedonistic influences" in its tourism campaigns to ensure advertisements did not distort the state's image.

Last month, PAS announced plans to amend the state constitution to make Islamic Sharia law supreme in Terengganu.

Sharia law includes amputation of hands or feet for some criminal offences, a punishment which is not implemented in multicultural Malaysia.