PUTRAJAYA, 11 March 2021: Malaysia registered 4,332,722 international visits in 2020, down 83.4% on 26,100,784 recorded in 2019, a loss suffered by all countries worldwide according to the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) statistics.
Regionally the decline in Asia and the Pacific stood at 84%, and in Southeast Asia (ASEAN), similar declines emerged during what was by far the worst year on record for tourism.
Thailand suffered an 83.2% decline, Singapore (-85.7%), Vietnam (-78.7%), and Indonesia (-75%), based on data from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and National Tourism Organisation (NTO).
Malaysia’s tourist receipts plunged by 85.3% from MYR86.14 billion in 2019 to MYR12.69 billion in 2020, with the average per capita expenditure recorded MYR2,928, a decline of 11.3% from MYR3,300 in 2019.
Malaysia recorded negative results for tourists in every market, namely short-haul (-83.5%), medium-haul (-84.7%), and long-haul (-79.7%). Massive declines in arrivals started when borders closed on 18 March 2020 as the first wave of Covid-19 pandemic hit Asia.
Based on the 4.4 million visits recorded in 2020, ASEAN countries supplied 68.1% (2,949,363), followed by 20.1% share from East Asia & South Asia markets (870,314) and 11.8%, (512,484) from long-haul markets – West Asia, Middle East, Americas, Oceania, Europe and Africa.
Malaysia’s top 10 country markets followed pre-Covid-19 trends but with considerable declines – Singapore (1,545,255), Indonesia (711,723), China (405,149), Thailand (394,413), India (155,883), Brunei (136,020), South Korea (119,750), Japan (74,383), Australia (72,680), and Vietnam (64,184).
Singapore, Indonesia, China, India and Thailand topped the list for tourist revenue.
(Source: Tourism Malaysia)
