THE tourism industry contributed RM84.1 billion to the country’s economy from 25.8 million foreign tourists last year. 

However, tourist arrivals declined 0.4% from the 25.9 million recorded the previous year.

Despite the slight drop, tourism receipts saw an increase of 2.4% from RM82.2 billion the previous year. 

“The biggest contributor for tourism receipts was from the Asean region at RM48.5 billion, although this is a drop of 12.8% from 2017, which recorded RM55.6 billion,” Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Mohamaddin Ketapi told a press conference on Malaysia’s tourism performance in Putrajaya today. 

“Asean arrivals continued to dominate the share of tourists arrivals to Malaysia with a 70.1% contribution. 

He said shopping topped the list of tourist expenditure at 33.4%, followed by accomodation (25.7%), and food and beverage (13.4%).  

He said local handicraft were also popular items among tourists. 

Singaporean tourists topped the list of international tourist arrivals last year with 10.6 million people, followed by Indonesia (3.2 million) and China (2.9 million). 

He added the average duration of stay for tourists in the country also increased to 6.5 nights in 2018 from 5.7 in 2017. 

The increase comprised mostly those from West Asian countries (9.7 nights), followed by Europe (8.6 nights and Central Asia (8.3 nights). 

“The medium-hall market and long-haul market occupied a 20.3% share and a 13.3% share, respectively. 

“Overall, the performance of the medium-haul market and long-haul narket showed healthy recovery with 19.3% growth compared with 2017, thus positively impacting upon length of stay and receipts.” 

Present were the ministry’s director-general Musa Yusof and secretary-general Isham Ishak. 

Musa said the country was expecting 30 million tourists and RM100 billion in receipts by 2020. 

“There are six strategies to achieve this target but the top one is improving connectivity into Malaysia,” he said. – February 27, 2019.