Fifty years after Malaysia declared its independence from the British, it is driving hard to draw them - and tourists from the rest of the world - back in.

These days it is hard to miss the ubiquitous advertisements reminding you that Malaysia is simply Asia, as the small nation tucked in between Thailand and Indonesia works to land more of the growing amount of tourism money feeding in to their economy.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, travel and tourism are expected to generate 117.2 billion ringgit ($33.6 billion) of economic activity in 2007, a figure that is expected to boom to 300.9 billion ringgit ($89.8 billion) by 2017.

"Malaysia Travel and Tourism Industry's GDP contribution to the total GDP is generally increasing," according to a report from the council issued earlier this year.