Malaysia sees 78.6pc drop in tourist arrivals from January to September

Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board has said that the country's tourist arrivals in January to September this year had slumped 78.6 per cent to 4.3 million from 20.1 million a year ago, as the spread of Covid-19 hit the tourism sector.

The board said in a statement that the country's tourism receipts for the period also fell 80.9 per cent to 12.6 billion ringgit (3.1 billion US dollars) from 66.1 billion ringgit in 2019, reports Xinhua.

In line with the downward trend, tourist per capita expenditure also declined by 10.7 per cent to 2,938 ringgit in January to September, from 3,289 ringgit a year ago.

The top three tourist generating markets have continued to be dominated by Singapore, Indonesia, and China, according to the tourism board.

The board also noted that negative growth had been observed for tourists from every regional market namely the short-haul market or ASEAN, medium-haul market, and long-haul market.

In terms of the number of daily visitors to the country, Malaysia recorded a total of 1.73 million arrivals from January to September 2020, a decrease of 74.9 per cent compared to 6.91 million excursionists who visited Malaysia in the same period last year.

The continued decline in the number of arrivals is due to the closure of international borders since March, which is a part of the government's proactive decision in its efforts to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia, said the tourism board.