KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 — Malaysia received 5.8 million foreign tourists from January to March this year, a 32.5 per cent growth compared to 4.3 million for the same period last year.
Tourism, Arts, and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing said the top ten tourist-generating markets for Malaysia are Singapore, Indonesia, China, Thailand, Brunei, India, South Korea, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the Philippines.
“Besides that, from January to April 2024, Malaysia also received chartered flights from Nanjing, Chengdu, Zhengzhou, Chongqing, Xi’an, Shenyang, Nanchang, and Guangzhou, totalling 22 charted flights every week from the said cities with an estimated 3,600 passengers arriving per week.
“As of the latest, we have 15 new additional routes, including Wuhan to Kuala Lumpur, Ahmedabad to Kuala Lumpur, Incheon to Kota Kinabalu, and Almaty to Kuala Lumpur,” he said.
Tiong was speaking at Tourism Malaysia’s networking session on the strategic direction towards VMY2026 today.
He added that the 30-day visa exemption for tourists from China and India as a part of the visa liberalisation plan has also proved to boost tourist arrivals in Malaysia.
As such, visa facilitation, improved accessibility, and flight connectivity are integral parts of the strategies to attract around 36 million tourist arrivals and generate potential revenue of RM150 billion in tourist receipts for Visit Malaysia Year 2026 (VMY2026).
Meanwhile, Tiong said that besides ramping up high-impact and fast conversion strategies in the marketing approach, all stakeholders need to leverage their strengths in all available sales and marketing channels to fulfil their potential.
“We also need to ensure the readiness of destinations we are targeting, including in each state, while developing new, unique tourism products and packages.
“This includes niche tourism development, including nature-based tourism, culture and heritage, experiential and responsible tourism, and many more.
“We will continue collaborating with Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad, the Transport Ministry, and local international airlines to increase flight frequencies, new route development, and seat capacity, especially from key markets such as West Asia, China, India, and Korea,” he said.
— Bernama
