Malaysia Receives a Record 25 Million Tourist Arrivals Last Year

PENANG, 3 FEBRUARY 2013: Malaysia posted an impressive overall tourism growth in 2012, capping off a string of tourism accolades that placed the nation in the global limelight. Tourist arrivals rose to 25,032,708 compared to 24,714,324 in 2011 and receipts climbed to RM60.6 billion compared to RM58.3 billion the previous year.

"I am extremely happy that the tourism industry has consistently registered growth year after year. I believe this is largely due to the Government's strong support in recognizing tourism as an important economic driver as well as the concerted efforts of our trade and media partners to market and brand Malaysia as the most preferred tourist destination," said Minister of Tourism Dato' Sri Dr. Ng Yen Yen.

TABLE 1: TOP TEN ARRIVALS TO MALAYSIA BY COUNTRY OF NATIONALITY
SOURCE: TOURISM MALAYSIA WITH THE COOPERATION OF IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT

Rank	Country of Nationality	2012	2011	% Change
1	SINGAPORE	13,014,268	13,372,647	-2.7
2	INDONESIA	2,382,606	2,134,381	+11.6
3	CHINA	1,558,785	1,250,536	+24.6
4	THAILAND	1,263,024	1,442,048	-12.4
5	BRUNEI	1,258,070	1,239,404	+1.5
6	INDIA	691,271	693,056	-0.3
7	PHILIPPINES	508,744	362,101	+40.5
8	AUSTRALIA	507,948	558,411	-9.0
9	JAPAN	470,008	386,974	+21.5
10	UNITED KINGDOM	402,207	403,940	-0.4

Under Malaysia's Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), tourism was identified as one of the 12 National Key Economic Areas (NKEA) to drive the nation's economic growth. Since then, a number of tourism development projects have been put in place in order to achieve 36 million tourist arrivals and RM168 billion tourism receipts by 2020.

Among the tourism initiatives undertaken last year were the physical transformation of the Bukit Bintang-Kuala Lumpur City Centre to improve the shopping experience, the opening of several new tourist attractions including Asia's first Legoland, as well as the hosting of several business and international events.

TABLE 2: TOP TEN MARKETS SHOWING DOUBLE DIGIT GROWTH
SOURCE: TOURISM MALAYSIA WITH THE COOPERATION OF IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT

Rank	Country of Nationality	2012	2011	% Change
1	IRAQ	21,939	13,568	+61.7
2	NEPAL	123,173	81,791	+50.6
3	PHILIPPINES	508,744	362,101	+40.5
4	BANGLADESH	86,465	65,603	+31.8
5	LAOS	38,364	29,520	+30.0
6	CHINA	1,558,785	1,250,536	+24.6
7	JAPAN	470,008	386,974	+21.5
8	VIETNAM	211,008	173,783	+21.4
9	SAUDI ARABIA	102,365	87,693	+16.7
10	KAZAKHSTAN	20,188	17,462	+15.6

To further capitalize on Malaysia's consistent tourism growth as well as the expected surge of tourists to the Asia Pacific area over the next few years, Malaysia is embarking on an intensive promotional campaign this year that will culminate in the Visit Malaysia Year 2014 (VMY 2014) when the nation welcomes 28 million tourists.

"We are on track towards meeting our long term targets and we hope that the VMY 2014 and the promotional campaign this year will significantly boost our tourism performance," continued Dato' Sri Dr. Ng Yen Yen.

Just two weeks earlier, Prime Minister Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak launched the VMY 2014 promotional campaign at the Bukit Jalil Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, during which he reiterated that VMY 2014 was a national mission to be undertaken by everyone including the rakyat.

Issued by: Communications & Publicity Division, Tourism Malaysia
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Last updated : 22 April 2014