JOHOR BARU: More than 14 million foreign visitors have entered Johor within the first half of 2025, says K. Raven Kumar.
The Johor unity, culture and heritage committee chairman said Singaporeans recorded the highest number with more than 11 million people between January and July this year.
“Besides Singapore, we are also seeing many visitors from Indonesia, China, India, the Philippines, European countries and South Korea.
“In fact, from January until March, more than two million tourists, including Malaysians, have stayed more than one night in Johor,” he said.
Raven said this after officiating Bank Negara Malaysia museum and art gallery’s Works on Paper: Art Inside the Wallet exhibition at Kompleks Warisan Sultan Abu Bakar on Tuesday (Aug 19).
He added that this was a good and encouraging sign for the state government and local tourism industry players as they were gearing up for Visit Johor Year 2026 (VJY2026).
Raven also said that efforts were underway to promote small towns located across 10 districts in Johor as potential tourism destinations to foreign and domestic tourists.
“There is a lot of potential in small towns to be part of our tourism destination for VJY2026 as these towns are located near tourist attractions such as waterfalls and many of them offer delicious local delicacies.
“Part of the government effort to promote small towns in other districts is by holding state-level events such as Majestic Johor and Festival Zapin outside of Johor Baru,” he said.
He said the government has set a target of attracting 12 million tourists to Johor next year by upgrading many tourism products and by organising various events to strengthen the state as a main tourism destination among tourists.
On the event, Raven said that the exhibition by Bank Negara would be held at the complex for six months until Feb 18 next year.
