The year may be drawing to a close, but by the looks of it, the pace of tourism doesn’t seem to be slowing down! This is definitely reflected in the huge increase in tourist arrivals last month, i.e. 2,078,485 tourists visited Malaysia in October, marking a significant increase of 14.3 per cent in tourist arrivals compared to 1,818,304 arrivals received in October 2008.
Minister of Tourism, Dato’ Sri Dr. Ng Yen Yen said, “We are happy with this increase in tourist arrivals despite the global challenges that the tourism industry has to contend with. It just goes to show that with strong support from tourism industry partners both locally and overseas, and our continuous promotions in all our focus markets, we are able to rise up above the challenges and make this significant contribution to our national economy.”
The UNWTO World Tourism Barometer Worldwide had earlier forecast international tourist arrivals to decline by 7% between January and August 2009. The healthy growth of Malaysia’s tourist arrivals these past few months bodes well for the nation’s year-end prospects.
Our picture shows the 5-Star Hotel THE MAGELLAN SUTERA at Sutera Harbour Resort in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia by night
The top ten markets contributing to the increase in tourist arrivals for October 2009 are from the following countries, i.e. Singapore (1,104,415), Indonesia (223,238), Thailand (143,973), China, including Hong Kong and Macau (95,235), Brunei (75,517), Australia (56,601), India (54,206), UK (38,842), the Philippines (37,902) and Japan (35,028).
Among the top ten markets, the five markets that have recorded most significant growth were Australia (47.4%; 56,601), China (27.4%; 95,235), Singapore (24.4%; 1,104,415) , UK (23.1%; 38,842) and India (20.9%; 54, 206).
Markets that recorded the most significant declines include: South Korea (-26.1%); United Arab Emirates (-24.4%); Saudi Arabia (-15.3%); Brunei (-14%); and Japan (-12.6%).
Cumulatively, tourist arrivals from Jan to Oct 2009 stand at 19,456,525, a 7.2 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2008 which recorded 18,148,159 tourist arrivals.
