Press Conference on Tourism Performance for the First Half of 2019
  1. Good morning and thank you all for attending the press conference to share about the Tourism Industry Performance for the First Half of 2019.
  2. Tourist spending in the First Half of 2019 increased by +6.8% to RM41.69 billion compared to RM39.0 billion in the same period in 2018.
  3. Tourist arrivals to Malaysia increased by +4.9%, with a total of 13,354,575 (thirteen million, three hundred and fifty-four thousand, five hundred and seventy-five) tourists visiting Malaysia during the period compared to 12,730,368 (twelve million seven hundred and thirty thousand three hundred and sixty-eight) tourists during the same period in 2018.
  4. Per capita spending increased by +1.9% to RM3,121.6 in the first half of 2019 compared to RM3,0464.7 in the first half of 2018.
  5. Meanwhile, the Average Length of Stay also increased by 0.4 nights, from 5.8 nights in 2018 to 6.2 nights in 2019.
  6. Contributions to tourism spending are from short-haul markets such as Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Brunei as well as from medium-haul markets such as China, India and South Korea due to high arrivals and increases in Average Length of Stay.
  7. The highest tourist spending by top 3 countries is Singapore; RM11.56 billion, China; RM7.09 billion and Indonesia; RM5.71 million.
  8. The highest per capita expenditure for the top 5 countries is contributed by long-haul and medium-haul markets, namely Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States and China.
  9. While the highest per capita according to market distance is from the long-distance market, namely Saudi Arabia (RM11,376.9.0), for the medium-distance market it is China (RM4,546.0) and for the short-distance market it is Vietnam (RM3,303.2).
  10. The average length of stay of foreign tourists or Average Length of Stay (ALOS) in Malaysia has been contributed by tourists from the long-haul market.
  11. The top five (5) countries for the highest average length of stay of foreign tourists are Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada.
  12. Contributors to the top 10 tourist arrivals are short-haul (ASEAN) and medium-haul (North Asia and South Asia) markets.
  13. The top 10 arrival contributing countries for the short-haul market are Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei, the Philippines and Vietnam and for medium-haul are China, India, Japan and South Korea.
  14. Singapore, Indonesia and China still maintain their positions as the three (3) main countries of tourist arrivals to Malaysia.
  15. At the regional level, overall all markets, namely short-haul, medium-haul and long-haul markets, have recorded a positive increase in foreign tourist arrivals for the first half of 2019.
  16. The performance of tourist arrivals showed a positive increase on a monthly basis, influenced by the Chinese New Year holiday in February, school holidays for Malaysia and Singapore in March, Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays in May along with school holidays and the start of the summer holidays, which encouraged tourist arrivals from medium-haul and long-haul markets to Malaysia.
  17. Tourism performance for the First Half of 2019 has shown positive improvement and it is hoped that this upward trend will continue throughout the year in line with the aspirations of Visit Malaysia 2020 so that Malaysia remains competitive in the global tourism industry.
  18. I also take this opportunity to thank all parties who support the efforts of this ministry in boosting the tourism industry in Malaysia.