Tourist arrivals in Malaysia crossed the 10 million mark in August - almost as much as the full-year total in 2003 - with Singaporeans making up the bulk of the visitors, an official said today.

"Tourist arrivals this year increased after the end of the Iraq war and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) scare," Abdul Rahman Shaari, the Malaysian tourism promotion board's services director, was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.

Total arrivals in Malaysia for the first eight months surged to 10,384,784 compared to 6,174,098 for the same period last year.

In addition to visitors from neighbouring Singapore, other major sources were the Middle East, China, India and Britain.

The total number of tourists in 2003 dipped to 10.5 million from 13.3 million the previous year. The industry was battered last year by Sars and the repercussions of the Iraq war on travel.

Tourist arrivals this year are expected to exceed 13 million.