DOMESTIC tourism in Malaysia surged 20% in the second quarter (Q2) of 2023 compared with the same period last year, with 54.5 million visitors, said a report released by the Statistics Department (DOSM) today.

Chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin in a statement said based on a quarter-on-quarter comparison, domestic visitors grew by 12.2% from Q1 2023.

He said domestic tourism expenditure for Q2 2023 was RM21.9 billion, an increase of 23.9% year-on-year and a 13.9% rise from Q1.

Last year, the total tourism expenditure was RM64.1 billion.

Uzir said domestic tourism receipts last year increased 248.1% to RM64.1 billion as compared with RM18.4 billion in 2021, a positive development after the Covid-19 pandemic.

In terms of volume and total receipts in 2022, he said Selangor registered the highest domestic tourism receipts with RM8.73 billion, followed by Kuala Lumpur (RM7.73 billion) and Sarawak (RM5.43 billion).

“Visiting relatives and friends was the main purpose of domestic overnight trips for all states except Penang and … Labuan,” he said. – Bernama, September 15, 2023.