Local holidays the way to go: Domestic tourism is making a strong comeback post-pandemic. — LIM BENG TATT/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 64.8 million local tourist arrivals were recorded in the second quarter of 2024, marking a 23.8% increase compared with the same period last year, says the Statistics Department.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said that domestic tourism expenditure for the second quarter of 2024 also rose 28.6% to RM28.1bil.
He said the performance of domestic tourism in 2023 showed strong growth, with domestic visitor arrivals reaching 213.7 million people, a 24.6% increase from 171.6 million the previous year.
“In addition, domestic tourism receipts rose by 32.5% to RM84.9bil, thus reflecting the positive impact of the reopening of all economic activities.
“However, if compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019, total domestic arrivals were still 10.6% lower and receipts declined by 17.7%,” he said in a statement, Bernama reported.
Mohd Uzir said that in line with the national recovery, all states recorded significant increases in both tourism volume and receipts.
He said last year, Selangor led with the highest domestic tourism receipts at RM11.1bil, followed by Kuala Lumpur (RM11bil), Sarawak (RM6.94bil) and Pahang (RM6.73bil).
He said shopping remained the primary driver of tourism receipts, contributing RM30.84bil, in addition to expenditure on food and beverages, accommodation and automotive fuel.
“The main purpose of domestic overnight trips for all states was visiting relatives and friends, except for Labuan, where holiday and leisure travel prevailed,” he said.
Mohd Uzir said the national average length of stay was 2.45 nights, a slight decrease from 2.55 nights in 2022, while several states and territories exceeded the national average, including Sarawak (3.48 nights), Kelantan (3.07 nights), Labuan (2.89 nights), Kuala Lumpur (2.70 nights), Sabah (2.67 nights) and Terengganu (2.59 nights).
He said based on the social and demographic profile of domestic tourists, six states and three territories – Johor, Melaka, Negri Sembilan, Pahang, Penang, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya – had the most number of domestic visitors from households earning between RM5,001 and RM10,000 per month.
The other seven states – Kedah, Kelantan, Perak, Perlis, Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak – recorded the highest percentage of visitors from households earning between RM1,001 and RM3,000 per month.
