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Malaysia Attracts 25.8 Million Tourists in 2018
13 May 2019 | Written by Chris Alexander

A total of 25,832,354 international tourists visited Malaysia in 2018, according to latest government statistics. Per capita expenditure also rose by 2.9% to RM3,257, while the Average Length of Stay (ALOS) climbed by +0.8 points to 6.5 nights. Tourism contributed a total of RM84.1 billion in tourist receipts during this period.

According to the study, Singapore contributed the most arrivals, with 10.6 million visitors to Malaysia in 2018. Indonesia was the second-most prolific source market with 3.2 million, followed by China (2.9 million), Thailand (1.9 million) and Brunei (1.3 million); the remainder of the top ten – namely South Korea, India, The Philippines, Japan and Taiwan – contributed an additional 2 million visitors between them.

The results demonstrate that ASEAN arrivals continued to dominate the share of tourist arrivals to Malaysia in 2018, with a 70.1% contribution. The medium-hall market and long-haul market occupied a 20.3% share and a 13.3% share respectively. However, the medium- and long-haul markets showed healthy growth, with 19.3% increase compared to 2017. It is the impact of these groups that are believed to have raised the ALOS. Markets showing increase in average lengths of stay included West Asia (9.7 nights), Europe (8.6 nights), South Asia (6.2 nights) and East Asia (6.1 nights).

Studying tourist receipts reveals what trends are most prevalent among Malaysia’s 25.8 million visitors in 2018. In a top three of tourist expenditure, shopping (33.4%) took top spot, followed by accommodation (25.7%) in second, and food and beverages (13.4%) completing the tourism trinity. In terms of overall tourist expenditure, West Asian tourists recorded the highest per capita expenditure with RM9,947. This was an increase of +6.1% compared with RM9,378.50 in 2017.

 

Data originally published by Tourism Malaysia