New Delhi, June 4 -- Malaysia has seen a big rise in tourism. In the first quarter of this year, it welcomed 10.1 million foreign visitors, a 22% increase compared to last year.

Malaysia has beaten Thailand to emerge as the most-visited South-Asian country. Thailand is facing a tourism crisis after safety concerns rose.

In January, Chinese actor Xing Xing was kidnapped in Thailand. Recently, an Indian tourist in Thailand was attacked by a tiger while taking a selfie at a Thai wildlife spot.

For Malaysia, most tourists came from Singapore (4.9 million), followed by China (1.12 million), Indonesia (1.08 million), Thailand and Brunei. For the first time, China passed Indonesia as the second largest source of visitors, mainly due to easier...