PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia recorded 73.8 million domestic visitors in the second quarter of 2025, an increase of 7.8 per cent compared with the same period last year, according to a report released on Thursday (Sept 18) by the Statistics Malaysia Department.
The report, based on the Malaysia Domestic Tourism Survey (DTS) for the second quarter of 2025 and the annual 2024 statistics by state, also showed that domestic visitor numbers rose 5.8% on a quarter-on-quarter basis from the first quarter of 2025.
Meanwhile, the number of domestic tourists in the second quarter of 2025 stood at 27.4 million, up 4.2% compared with the first quarter of 2024.
"Correspondingly, domestic tourism expenditure amounted to RM29.2bil in the second quarter of 2025, reflecting a modest year-on-year growth of 3.8%.
"However, it registered a slight quarter-on-quarter decline of 0.6%," The department said in a statement.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said in terms of domestic tourism performance by state in 2024, Selangor recorded the highest number of domestic visitors at 34.5 million, followed by the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (27.0 million) and Perak (21.8 million).
"Perak also registered the highest number of tourist arrivals, rising by 36.1% to 10.2 million visitors compared to 7.5 million in the previous year," he said, adding that in line with the positive growth in domestic visitor arrivals, all states recorded an increase in tourism receipts.
Selangor registered the highest domestic tourism receipts in 2024 at RM14.2%, marking a 28.1% increase from RM11.1bil in 2023. This was followed by the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur with RM14.1bil, compared to RM11.0bil previously.
Pahang and Sabah also posted strong growth, with tourism receipts rising to RM8.7bil (2023: RM6.7bil) and RM8.6bil (2023: RM6.7bil), respectively.
"Shopping remained the main contributor to tourism receipts, with a total of RM39.9bil. The Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur led with RM6.8bil, followed by Selangor (RM6.1bil) and Sarawak (RM3.2bil).
"Food and beverage were the second-largest contributor, amounting to RM17.3bil. Selangor led in this category with RM2.2bil, followed by Kuala Lumpur (RM2.1bil) and Perak (RM1.5bil)," he said.
Mohd Uzir said the rise in tourism receipts across all states reflects sustained demand for travel-related goods and services, particularly in shopping and food and beverage activities. – Bernama
