PUTRAJAYA: Domestic tourism in Malaysia surged 20% in the second quarter of 2023 compared with the same quarter the previous year, recording a total of 54.5 million visitors, according to a report released by the Statistics Department.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said that based on a quarter-on-quarter comparison, domestic visitors increased by 12.2% from the first quarter of 2023.
He said domestic tourism expenditure for the second quarter of 2023 was RM21.9bil, an increase of 23.9% year-on-year and a 13.9% rise from the previous quarter.
In 2022, the total tourism expenditure recorded was RM64.1bil, he said in a statement.
“Overall, Malaysia’s domestic tourism performance in 2022 continued to record positive growth. There were 171.6 million domestic tourist arrivals compared with 66 million visitors in the previous year, an increase of 160.1%,” he added.
Mohd Uzir said domestic tourism receipts in 2022 also increased 248.1% to RM64.1bil compared with RM18.4bil in 2021.
In terms of volume and total receipts in 2022, he said Selangor registered the highest domestic tourism receipts at RM8.73bil, followed by the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, and Sarawak, which received RM7.73bil and RM5.43bil respectively.
“Visiting relatives and friends was the main purpose of domestic overnight trips for all states except Penang and Labuan,” he said. — Bernama
