Tourist expenditure expands 16.9% in first quarter

Malaysians protecting themselves from the scorching hot sun at KLCC.

PETALING JAYA: The tourism industry recorded positive growth in the first quarter of 2019 with tourist expenditure registering an increase of 16.9% to reach RM21.4bil compared to RM18.3bil in 2018.

Per capita expenditure showed a hike of 13.8% from RM2,813.1 in 2018 to RM3,201.8 in 2019.

Tourist arrivals to Malaysia recorded an increase of 2.7% in the first quarter of 2019 with a total of 6.7mil tourists compared to 6.52mil tourists in the same period of 2018, a statement by Tourism Malaysia said.

Based on monthly arrivals, Malaysia welcomed a total of 2,195,684 tourists in January followed by 2,165,933 tourists in February and 2,334,613 tourists in March.

The short-haul market, comprising Asean, maintained its lead as the biggest contributor of international tourist arrivals to Malaysia with a share of 68.3%, reflecting a 1.9% increase to 4,576,636 tourists in the first quarter of 2019. The increase was fuelled by positive arrival growth from markets such as Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The share for the medium-haul market during the first quarter of 2019 was 21.9% with a 8.6% increase of arrivals to 1,466,993 tourists, driven mainly by China, South Korea, Japan, India and Pakistan growth.

The long-haul market, meanwhile, recorded a 9.7% share, down by -3.6% with arrivals of 652,032 tourists in Q1 of 2019.

The average length of stay in Malaysia for the first quarter of 2019 saw an improvement of 1.8 nights from 4.2 nights in 2018 to 6.0 nights in 2019.