PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia's tourism industry generated RM291.9bil, contributing 15.1% to the economy in 2024, according to the Tourism Satellite Account 2024 statistics released by the Statistics Department (DOSM) on Friday (Sept 12).
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said that in 2023, the sector contributed 14.9% to the gross domestic product and generated RM271.9bil.
"In terms of performance, the tourism industry grew by 7.4% as compared to 10.9% in 2023," he said.
Concerning sectoral performance, he said retail trade posted a growth of 5.9%, followed by food and beverage (5.7%) and other services (health, education, MICE, and spa) at 9.9%.
The performance was supported by retail trade with a share of 52.9% (RM154.5bil), followed by food and beverage at 16.3% (RM47.7bil) and other services at 13.3% (RM39bil). Collectively, these three sub-sectors contributed 82.5% to the overall tourism industry.
In addition, all tourism sub-sectors had surpassed the pre-pandemic level of 2019, except for accommodation and passenger transport services, which have not yet fully recovered.
He added Malaysia's inbound tourism expenditure expanded by 41.1% or RM107bil in 2024.
"The growth of inbound tourism expenditure was supported by shopping activities (36.1%), followed by passenger transport (19.1%) and accommodation (18.5%).
"The inbound expenditure composition was dominated by the tourists' segment, which contributed 96.1%, and the remaining 3.9% by the excursionists' segment," he said.
According to Mohd Uzir, domestic tourism expenditure expanded by 25.1% (2023: 32.9%) or RM98.4bil in 2024, mainly contributed by shopping activities and food and beverage.
Domestic expenditure consists of tourists, accounting for 57.8%, and excursionists (42.2%).
"Accordingly, internal tourism consumption grew at 33% in 2024 from 66.1% in 2023," he added. - Bernama
