KUALA LUMPUR - The total Chinese tourist arrivals in Malaysia increased by 7.5 percent year-on-year to 551,000 in the first quarter, and the momentum may continue to pick up following some encouraging measures by China and Malaysia, Maybank Investment Bank said in a report Thursday.

"The number accounted for only 18 percent of the 3 million target of Malaysian government this year. That said, we opine that it ought to pick up," the report said.

According to Tourism Malaysia, the total visitor arrivals in Malaysia were flat in the first quarter, falling 0.5 percent year-on-year.

China ranked third in terms of visitor arrivals to Malaysia in the first quarter. It accounted for 8.3 percent of the total visitors to Malaysia, after Singapore at 48.5 percent and Indonesia at 10.6 percent.

Visitor arrivals from China stood at 2.1 million in 2016.