PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is on its way to fully recovering to pre-pandemic levels in terms of tourist arrivals, with India leading the growth in numbers.
Singaporeans make up the largest pool of tourists, but it is the number of Indian tourists that has spiked the most since 2019.
Some 537,000 tourists from India visited Malaysia between January and June this year, an increase of 51.6% from the 354,000 in the same period in 2019.
That’s a jump of 183,007 people, according to data from Tourism Malaysia.
Here’s a list of the 16 countries from which tourist numbers have overtaken those of 2019, before the pandemic:
Currently, Indian nationals can enjoy visa-free entry into Malaysia for up to 30 days. The policy, implemented on Dec 1 last year, will be in effect until Dec 31 this year.
Thanks to this move and a rising middle class in India, there is now a bigger wave of Indian tourists travelling overseas, said industry players.
“There is a growing middle class in India, who have more money to spend,” said Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) president Nigel Wong.
“Travelling is one way many would like to spend their extra income.”
He said the journey from India to Malaysia was relatively short too, making our country a more cost-effective destination.
And it’s not just Malaysia – other countries were also receiving more Indian tourists, said Consortium of Inbound Tourism Alliance chairman Uzaidi Udanis.
“It’s the right time for Malaysia to offer visa-free travel, especially if we can capture the market of high-end Indian tourists who can afford to travel to countries like the United States and Britain.
“If Malaysia’s visa-free offer can be extended, it would be even better,” said Uzaidi, who is also the founder of Your Inbound Matters, a digital platform for inbound tourism.
Full recovery soon
The overall number of tourist arrivals has yet to catch up with 2019, but tourism players are feeling optimistic about Malaysia’s recovery.
MATTA’s Wong said the global tourism figures were expected to reach pre-pandemic levels by the end of this year.
“For Malaysia, we don’t have the figures yet, but it looks very optimistic for us.
“Next year, we expect more tourist arrivals with more new tourism products and better connectivity,” he said.
Consortium of Inbound Tourism Alliance chairman Uzaidi Udanis
Tourism expenditure in Malaysia, however, has already exceeded 2019.
The total amount of tourism receipts rose from RM41.69bil in January to June 2019 to RM45.42bil in the same period this year.
Here’s a glimpse of the current situation compared with 2019. Click on the arrow buttons to see the next image:
Welcoming the higher tourism expenditure, Uzaidi said more incentives should be given to tourists for shopping and to encourage them to stay longer in our country.
“We can achieve this by coming up with more tourism products and activities to attract them,” he said.
Wong said the increase in tourism expenses was only partly due to the rising costs of goods and services.
“The current trend shows that travellers are more willing to spend on food and shopping, almost like revenge spending,” he added.
As of June this year, Singaporeans topped the list of tourist arrivals, followed by Indonesians and Chinese.
The number of Chinese tourists has yet to reach pre-pandemic figures despite being given visa-free travel to Malaysia until 2025.
A total of 1.45 million Chinese tourists visited Malaysia in the first half of this year, but it’s a 7% drop from the 1.56 million in the same period in 2019.
Wong said this could be due to stiff competition from other countries, with many new destinations being marketed worldwide.
When it comes to hotel stays, the number of international hotel guests in Malaysia has increased by 24.9% in January to March this year, compared with the same period in 2019, before the pandemic.
A total of 7.77 million foreign tourists checked into hotels nationwide in the first three months of this year, up from 6.23 million in 2019.
This is according to the Paid Accommodation Survey by Tourism Malaysia.
The state that welcomed the highest number of international hotel guests was Kuala Lumpur, followed by Sabah and Selangor.
Check out these maps below to see the number of foreign guests in each state.
States are ranked from one to 16, with one having the most number of international hotel guests:
Tapping into new markets
The future looks promising for Malaysia’s tourism, with the industry looking to attract new markets to boost arrivals.
“Malaysia should focus on our neighbours in South-East Asia, such as Indonesia.
“Not only do they have a large tourist pool, but they also share a similar culture, language and food with us, which could appeal to them,” said Uzaidi.
He said the rising trend of the middle-income class was also occurring in this region.
Concurring, Wong said the number of outbound tourists from Cambodia and Vietnam was also increasing, given their larger middle class.
“We are also looking to reach out to newer Western markets like the Netherlands and Czechoslovakia,” he added.
On whether the recent sinkhole incident in Kuala Lumpur had any negative effect on tourism, Uzaidi said there has yet to be any cancellations due to that incident.
“It is an isolated incident here. Also, it could happen anywhere,” said Uzaidi, citing a similar occurrence in Seoul, South Korea which saw a sinkhole appearing on the road.
On Aug 23, Indian tourist Vijayalaksmi, 48, went missing after falling into an 8m-deep sinkhole on Jalan Masjid India in Kuala Lumpur. A nine-day search operation was called after failing to locate her.
As for concerns on mpox, Wong said no significant impact on tourism has been observed so far.
“Nevertheless, MATTA urges all travellers to be wary and take necessary steps to protect themselves,” he said.
To grow tourism, Wong suggested the government upgrade tourist facilities and public infrastructure to prepare for Visit Malaysia 2026.
“There should be more emphasis for this in the coming Budget 2025 to be tabled in October.
“More incentives should also be given to tourism organisations that bring in tourists,” he added.