• 2025-09-18 02:15 PM

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia recorded 73.8 million domestic visitors in the second quarter of 2025, representing a 7.8% increase compared to the same period last year.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) released these figures today based on its Domestic Tourism Survey for the second quarter of 2025 and annual 2024 statistics by state.

Domestic visitor numbers also rose 5.8% on a quarter-on-quarter basis from the first quarter of 2025.

The number of domestic tourists specifically reached 27.4 million in the second quarter of 2025, marking a 4.2% increase compared to the first quarter of 2024.

Domestic tourism expenditure amounted to RM29.2 billion in the second quarter of 2025, reflecting a modest year-on-year growth of 3.8%.

This figure, however, registered a slight quarter-on-quarter decline of 0.6%.

Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin provided a breakdown of domestic tourism performance by state for the full year 2024.

Selangor recorded the highest number of domestic visitors at 34.5 million, followed by the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur with 27.0 million and Perak with 21.8 million.

Perak 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.

All states recorded an increase in tourism receipts in line with the positive growth in domestic visitor arrivals. Selangor registered the highest domestic tourism receipts in 2024 at RM14.2 billion, marking a 28.1% increase from RM11.1 billion in 2023.

The Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur followed with RM14.1 billion, compared to RM11.0 billion previously.

Pahang and Sabah also posted strong growth, with tourism receipts rising to RM8.7 billion and RM8.6 billion respectively from RM6.7 billion each in 2023.

Shopping remained the main contributor to tourism receipts with a total of RM39.9 billion.

The Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur led this category with RM6.8 billion, followed by Selangor with RM6.1 billion and Sarawak with RM3.2 billion.

Food and beverage were the second-largest contributor, amounting to RM17.3 billion.

Selangor led in this category with RM2.2 billion, followed by Kuala Lumpur with RM2.1 billion and Perak with RM1.5 billion.

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