KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 — Domestic tourism expenditure last year fell 60.8 per cent to RM40.4 billion compared to RM103.2 billion in 2019, according to the Domestic Tourism Survey 2020 Report issued by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) today.
The Chief Statistician’s Office in a statement said it was the first decline since 2008 when DOSM started collating statistics of the Domestic Tourism Survey.
The statement also quoted Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin as saying the measures carried out curb movements due to the spread of Covid-19 pandemic have affected domestic tourism activities in Malaysia in 2020.
“On the overall, domestic visitor arrivals were down 44.6 per cent with 131.7 million visitors compared with 239.1 million visitors in 2019, resulting in a fall of 60.8 per cent in total spending to RM40.4 billion compared to 103.2 billion the year before,” he said.
Mohd Uzir explained that the poorer performance in domestic tourism in 2020 was driven by a fall in daily tourists and visitors spending by -65.9 per cent and -51.1 per cent respectively.
On the number of trips, Mohd Uzir said domestic visitors only carried out 147 million trips in the country in 2020 which declined 55.8 per cent compared to 2019.
On spending, he said shopping recorded the highest contribution at 52.6 per cent (37.8 per cent in 2019) from the overall expenditure of domestic visitors.
This is followed by food and beverages at 18.6 per cent (14.3 per cent in 2019) while vehicle fuel was 9 per cent (15 per cent in 2019)
“This is the first time, expenditure on food and beverages was higher than vehicle fuel,” he said.
Mohd Uzir said for the first time since 2008, the contribution of travelling for shopping recorded 42.3 per cent (35.4 per cent in 2019) to surpass trip contribution to visit relatives and friends which was 32.0 per cent (42.3 per cent in 2019).
This is followed by contribution for holidays and leisure at 16.9 per cent (9 per cent in 2019).
Mohd Uzir said last year, Selangor was the most visited state by domestic visitors which was 19.7 million followed by Perak (13.2 million), Kuala Lumpur (12.4 million), Sabah (10.3 million) and Kedah (10.1 million).
— Bernama
