Malaysia is a multicultural nation which located at Southeast Asia and it is know for rainforests, mix of different races and religions, beaches, and European cultural influences. Since 1999, Malaysia had launched a worldwide marketing campaign called “Malaysia, Truly Asia” which was successfully brought in over 7.4 million tourists and tourism has becomes Malaysia’s third largest source of foreign exchange income.

1. Tourist arrivals in Malaysia rose 4.9% in the first half of 2019 to 13.4million

In the first half of 2019, tourist arrivals in Malaysia increased 4.9% to 13.4 million from the previous corresponding period, and this translated into higher tourist spend of RM41.7 billion up 6.8% from a year ago. The increase was also supported by numbers of tourist from Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia.

2. Tourist arrivals by mode of transport (%)

Tourist arrivals by airlines was increased 36% in 2019 compared to 34.7% in 2018, while tourists who chose bus were decreased from 59.5% to 57.8% as they just want to arrive the destination in as little time as possible. However, some of them chose bus because the expense is affordable and cheaper than airlines. Other than that, there were only 4.7% of tourists arrived Malaysia by sea transportation.

3. The main purpose of tourists visting

The top 3 reasons most tourists came to Malaysia are for holiday (53.4%), visit friends and relatives (25.5%), and for shopping (13%). Malaysia is a relaxing tropical paradise which is perfect mix between all important components that every tourist is searching for, including natural beaches, year-round warm climate, magnificent natural landscapes, rich wildlife, wide variety of foods, and welcoming Malaysian.

4. Tourist expenditure (RM BIL)

Based on the summary of tourist arrivals and expenditure 2019, the things that most tourists spend on are shopping, accommodation, and F&B. Malaysia is known as a shopping hub which has more than 350 shopping malls and drives the growth of the tourism sector. In 2012, the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, became the 2nd Best Shopping Destination in Asia Pacific by Globe Shopper Index, therefore tourists can enjoy high quality shopping experience with hundreds of duty-free outlets and premium outlets.

Over centuries, multitudes of Asian ethnicities have settled in Malaysia which makes a country so fascinating in diversity. Tourists can explore varied cultures, religion, nature, sightseeing, local cuisine, and wonderful destinations with year-round favourable weather conditions in Malaysia.

Tourism commercial video of "Malaysia, Truly Asia" in 1999