Malaysia has recorded a total of 9,485,074 tourist arrivals from January to July 2005 compared to 9,116,478 tourist arrivals for the same period in 2004,  representing an increase of 4.0%.For the month of July 2005, tourist arrivals showed an increase of 7.3% with 1,317,276 tourists compared to 1,227,134 for the same month last year.

At a glance, Malaysia has been recording a steady average of some 1.3 million foreign visitors per month. During March 2005,Malaysia registered 1,419,275 visitors, the highest ever recorded in a month. It was an increase of 11.4% compared to last year's March figure of 1,274,039 visitors.

This year, the visitor arrivals registered so far are as follows: January 1,394,032 ; February  ,346,550 ; April 1,317,749; May 1,351,141; and June 1,339,051. 

During the month of July 2005, the South Korea market performed the best with a sharp growth of 144.7%. Meanwhile, doubledigit growth was recorded for  arrivals from Thailand (13.4%), Indonesia (30.2%), Brunei Darussalam (37.3%), Hong Kong (23.2%), India (31.8%), West Asia (56.2%), USA (19.0%), Australia (36.0%), United Kingdom (27.0%), Germany (19.1%), Scandinavia (10.5%)

and France (27.4%), besides Singapore (4.4%) and Japan (2.3%). The top ten tourist generating markets until July 2005 are Singapore (5,648,675), Thailand (1,065,573), Indonesia (557,499), Brunei (275,941), Japan (182,701), China (173,289), Australia (157,027), United Kingdom (137,134), India (134,334) and Taiwan (91,726).

Issued by: The Hon. Minister of Tourism,
Ministry of Tourism, Malaysia
Date: 14 September 2005