Foreign tourist spend reach RM86.14bil in 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign tourist receipts (expenditures) grew 2.4 per cent to RM86.14 billion from 26.10 million people who visited the country last year.

Tourism Malaysia said foreign arrivals had increased by one per cent from 25.82 million tourists recorded in 2018.

“The Asean region remained the biggest contributor, contributing a total of RM43.72 billion, followed by West Asia tourists with the highest per capita expenditure of RM10,214 each, an increase of 2.7 per cent from RM9,947 in 2018,” it said in a statement on last Friday.

The top three distributions of tourist receipts went to shopping (33.6 per cent), accommodation (24 per cent) and food and beverages (13.3 per cent).

Tourism Malaysia said shopping receipts had expanded to 33.6 per cent share in 2019 from a 33.4 per cent share recorded in 2018.

In terms of per capita expenditure, it rose 1.3 per cent to RM3,300 while the average length of stay (ALOS) climbed by 0.9 nights to 7.4 nights.

Tourism Malaysia said top 10 international tourist arrivals for 2019 were Singapore (10.16 million) Indonesia (3.62 million) China (3.11 million), Thailand (1.88 million), Brunei (1.22 million), India (735,309), South Korea (673,065), Japan (424,694), the Philippines (421,908) and Vietnam (400,346).

Tourist arrivals growth was seen from South Asia (22.2 per cent), East Asia (5.9 per cent), Americas (4.3 per cent) and Europe (0.3 per cent), while declines were recorded for Asean (1.3 per cent) and West Asia (2.1 per cent) markets.

Markets showing increase in average lengths of stay included West Asia (9.8 nights), Europe (8.8 nights), Americas (8.2 nights), East Asia (6.5 nights), South Asia (6.4 nights) and ASean (4.9 nights).

Source: https://www.nst.com.my/business/2020/04/583578/foreign-tourist-receipts-rm8614bil-2019