DOMESTIC tourism within Malaysia has shown tremendous growth in 2024, said Federal Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing.
He said there was a sharp rise in domestic tourism revenue in all states for 2024.
Speaking during the New Year countdown in Sibu, he said his ministry had obtained the latest statistics on domestic tourism spending from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
"From January to the end of November 2024, the department calculated that Malaysian domestic tourists travelling within Malaysia had spent about RM 77.8 billion.
"The money was spent on shopping, food, accommodation, transportation and others. It is a significant increase of 27.2 per cent in domestic tourists spending compared to 2023.
"The significant increase shows that domestic tourism in Malaysia is on very robust growth," he said.
Tiong, who is Bintulu Member of Parliament, said his ministry will be very aggressive in promoting local tourism this year while it also steps up its drive to lure more foreign tourists.
As for foreign tourists visiting Malaysia, the Jan - Nov 2024 period recorded 32.2 million foreign arrivals, he said.
"This is an impressive increase of foreign arrivals as compared to the 25.9 million foreigners who visited the country from Jan - Nov 2023," he said.
Tiong said his ministry expects the tourism-related sectors in Malaysia to perform even better this year as the economic fronts are showing good growth.
About 5,000 attended the Sibu New Year countdown held at a community hall in the central Sarawak town. - January 1, 2025
