PUTRAJAYA, 23 October 2014: With aggressive promotional efforts by Tourism Malaysia and commitment from industry players, tourist arrivals to Malaysia continue to grow despite a challenging year and we are a step closer to achieving the 28 million tourist arrivals target in line with Visit Malaysia Year 2014. 

From January to July 2014, Malaysia welcomed a total of 16.1 million (16,104,966) tourists, registering a hike of 9.7% compared to 14.7 million (14,682,124) tourists for the same period last year.

The top 10 tourist generating markets to Malaysia from January to July 2014 were Singapore (8,236,079), Indonesia (1,583,786), China (997,370), Brunei (699,763), Thailand (773,160), India (445,431), Australia (347,355), the Philippines (362,139), Japan (308,418) and Taiwan (168,962).

The month of July alone registered a total of 2,229,920 tourist arrivals, with the ASEAN region contributing a 74.0% share (1.7 million). Among ASEAN countries, Vietnam registered the highest growth of 40.0%, followed by Indonesia (+23.3%), Brunei (+10.0%), Cambodia (+10.0%) the Philippines (+8.5%) and Thailand (+3.6%).

Besides the school holiday in Vietnam and Indonesia in July, low fares promotion from the Philippines to Malaysia offered by Cebu Pacific Air, AirAsia Zest, and AirAsia Indonesia also contributed to the upsurge of arrivals from these Asean countries.

The increase in arrivals from the Philippines were also contributed by the ‘Luv U Malaysia’ and ‘Juan For Fun Backpackers Challenge’ programme beamed on TV stations in the Philippines, which provided  great publicity to Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

The interest among Bruneian tourists to visit Malaysia was stimulated following the joint promotional efforts between Tourism Malaysia Brunei and local tourism agencies, as well as shopping complexes in Malaysia, especially during grand events like the 1Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival. 

The medium-haul markets contributed 19.0% or 422,934 tourists to Malaysia’s total arrivals in July. Tourists from the Middle Eastern countries showed tremendous increase in July due to the arrival of summer (10 June to 30 August 2014) in their homeland and most of the local travel agencies took the opportunity to sell tour packages with attractive prices. During this period, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Iraq registered an increase of 379.2%, 77.4% and 69.0% respectively.

Countries that registered double-digit growth in July were Japan (+28.1%), New Zealand (+23.0%), Australia (+17.6%), India (+16.2%) and South Korea (+12.8%).

A hike in July arrivals from South Korea was due to the additional Asiana Airlines flights from Incheon to Kota Kinabalu, as well as new AirAsia flights from Incheon to Kuala Lumpur. The promotion of edutourism like “Manaberu (Learning) Travel Malaysia” in Japan aslo attracted many families to send their children to join these learning tour packages.

A total of 155,984 tourists or 7.0% of Malaysia’s total arrivals were contributed by the long-haul markets during the month of July. The markets that posted double-digit growth were Spain (+47.8%), France (+45.8%), the Netherlands (45.2%), Italy (28.7%), Sweden (+27.0%), Germany (22.7%), the United Kingdom (+19.7%), Russia (+16.3%), and the United States (+11.5%).

The rise of tourist arrivals from most of the European countries and the United States was mainly due to the beginning of summer holidays in these countries. Wide publicity through social media also brought positive impacts on long-haul markets. Facebook and Twitter have been used to distribute information in relation to Tourism Malaysia’s programmes, interesting destinations and tourist hotspots.

Note: Data on tourist arrivals is supplied by the Immigration Department of Malaysia.

ENDS

For more media releases, media info and media features on Malaysia’s tourism industry, kindly visit the Media Centre of Tourism Malaysia’s website at http://www.tourismmalaysia.gov.my/

MALAYSIA TOURISM PROMOTION BOARD OR TOURISM MALAYSIA is an agency under the Ministry of Tourism & Culture, Malaysia. Tourism Malaysia focuses on the specific task of promoting Malaysia at all levels. Since its inception, Tourism Malaysia has grown by leaps and bounds and it has emerged as a major player in the international tourism scene. In 2013, Malaysia registered 25.7 million tourist arrivals and RM65.4 billion in receipts, making tourism its second largest foreign exchange earner and the sixth highest contributor to its Gross National Income (GNI).

Malaysia is celebrating its fourth VISIT MALAYSIA YEAR (VMY) in 2014 with the theme “Celebrating 1Malaysia Truly Asia”. The VMY 2014 promotional campaign has started in 2013 with a series of year-long special events and activities leading to VMY 2014. It will contribute to the Government’s target to receive 36 million tourist arrivals and RM168 billion in receipts by 2020, as outlined in the Tourism NKEA (National Key Economic Area).    

Through the Tourism NKEA, collaborative efforts between the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, other Government agencies and the private sector have been enhanced to help secure Malaysia’s position as a leading tourist destination. The targets set under the Tourism NKEA will be achieved through the implementation of twelve Entry Point Projects (EPPs) clustered under five themes: Affordable Luxury; Nature Adventure; Family Fun; Events, Entertainment, Spa and Sports; and Business Tourism.  

Press contact:
Media & Publicity Unit:
Azizah Aziz (Ms), Senior Deputy Director, Communications & Publicity Division
Tel: +603-8891 8752
Email: azizahaziz@tourism.gov.my

Editorial Unit:
Anis Rozalina Ramli (Ms), Senior Editor, Communications & Publicity Division
Tel: +603-8891 8759
Email: anisramli@tourism.gov.my