PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s domestic tourism recorded strong growth in the third quarter of 2024 with a record of 66.3 million visitors and a total expenditure of RM25.6bil, according to a report from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) on Thursday (Dec 19).
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said until September 2024, Malaysia recorded a total of 193.3 million domestic visitors, showing an increase of 21.8 per cent year on year.
"Domestic tourism expenditure for the first nine months of 2024 was RM77.8bil, reflecting a strong growth of 27.2 per cent year-on-year," he said in a statement on Thursday.
Uzir said in terms of the accommodation sector, the total revenue increased by 12.9 per cent from the previous year.
He said the growth was supported by the occupancy rate of five-star hotels which increased by 1.1 per cent, followed by four-star hotels (+4.2 per cent) and three-star hotels (+0.2 per cent).
"The occupancy rate by location in the town increased by 3.4 per cent, compared to the same quarter last year," he said.
He said the performance of the tourism-related industry in the third quarter of 2024 was encouraging with the value of fuel retail sales increasing 6.3 per cent year-on-year followed by highway traffic (+5.5 per cent), arrivals at domestic airports (+3.5 per cent) and zoo revenue (+ 1.7 per cent).
According to Uzir, Malaysia's domestic tourism is one of the main pillars of the country's economy driven by growth in the number of visitors, high spending and strong performance across the tourism-related industry.
"This growth is expected to continue, strengthening the importance of this sector to the overall economic health of the country," he said.- Bernama
