KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia attracted nearly 38 million international visitors last year, surpassing the pre-pandemic figure of 35 million in 2019, says Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing.
This, he added, had led to visitor receipts exceeding RM100bil for the first time, reaching a record RM106.7bil.
Unveiling the latest statistics in the ministry's 2024 progress report on Saturday, Tiong said there were 25,016,968 tourists in 2024, a 24.2% increase from 20,141,846 tourists in 2023.
"The number of excursionists rose to 12,944,517, marking a 46.7% increase from 2023's 8,822,462 excursionists.
"The statistics show that the top five countries for tourists in 2024 were Singapore (9,099,727 visitors), Indonesia (3,651,668), China (3,287,362), Thailand (1,639,211), and Brunei (1,142,134).
"Remarkably, India also joined the ‘million-tourist’ ranks with 1,133,331 tourists, securing the sixth position," he said.
Tiong said for excursionists, the top three were Singapore (9,755,953), Thailand (628,971), and Brunei (589,985).
Tiong said last year, international visitors brought in RM106.7bil, with RM102.2bil coming from tourists.
"This marks the first time Malaysia's tourism receipts has exceeded RM100bil, showing a 43.4% increase from 2023's RM71.3bil and an 18.7% rise from RM86.1bil in 2019.
"The average spending per tourist hit a new high of RM4,086.60, which is a 15.4% rise from 2023 (RM3,540.32) and a 23.8% increase from the pre-pandemic level in 2019 (RM3,300.40)," he said.
