Malaysia recorded a total of 17,378,040 tourist arrivals during the first nine months of 2009, indicating a sign of continuous growth of tourists to the country. It represented an increase of 6.4% compared to 16,329,855 for the same period in 2008.

During September 2009, tourist arrivals grew by 24.9% from 1,599,418 in September 2008. 

            Table 1: Comparison of tourist arrivals to Malaysia

          Source: Immigration Department of Malaysia

       Table 2: Comparison of tourist arrivals to Malaysia       

       (January – September 2008 and 2009)

           Source: Immigration Department of Malaysia

The top ten tourist generating markets for September 2009 were Singapore (1,137,426), Indonesia (207,302), Thailand (106,079), Brunei (85,109), China (including Hong Kong & Macau) (74,319), Australia (48,270), India (43,733), Japan (38,654), the Philippines (36,397) and the United Kingdom (34,001).

For the same month, double-digit growth was recorded for tourist arrivals from Saudi Arabia (178.0%), U.A.E. (161.3%), Poland (56.0%), Iran (51.6%), South Africa (40.8%), Myanmar (35.6%), Singapore (35.5%), Cambodia (33.5%), France (32.4%), Australia (27.8%), Laos (25.5%), Vietnam (22.8%), India (17.4%), the United Kingdom (16.8%), Russia (15.7%), Sweden (15.4%), Indonesia (15.4%), the Philippines (15.3%), Italy (14.8%), Germany (14.2%), Thailand (13.7%), Switzerland (13.5%), USA (11.2%), Norway (11.0%) and Finland (10.8%).

The top ten tourist generating markets from January to September 2009 were: Singapore (9,398,463), Indonesia (1,729,690), Thailand (1,075,689), Brunei (772,174), China (including Hong Kong & Macau) (735,529), India (420,046), Australia (371,488), the Philippines (332,293), the United Kingdom (324,061) and Japan (297,041).

For more information, please visit Tourism Malaysia’s online Facts and Figures at
http://www.tourismmalaysia.gov.my/corporate/research.asp?page=facts_figures.