Tourism facts and figures

TOURISM Malaysia has come out with two vital reports of the country’s tourism industry as a guide to promote, market and improve the infrastructure of tourist destinations. The reports, Malaysia Tourism Key Performance Indicators (KPI) 2009 and the Malaysia Tourists Profile 2009 by Selected Markets, are available at RM50 each.

The first report, among others, furnishes figures such as tourist arrivals and receipts, components of tourist expenditure, hotel guests and room supply from 2007 to 2009.
There is also a section on medical tourism which specifies the number of foreign patients seeking treatment in the country, including their weekly flight frequency and seat capacity. Malaysia Tourism Key Performance Indicators (KPI) 2009, shows, among others, the country’s achievement of 7.7 per cent increase in tourist receipts from RM49.6 billion in 2008 to RM53.4 billion last year. This despite the average occupancy rate of hotels dropping from 66.3 per cent in 2008 to 60.9 per cent last year.

The tourist arrivals in the same period increased from 22,052,488 tourists to 23,646,191 while tourist per capita expenditure grew from RM2,247.40 to RM2,256.70. The Malaysia Tourists Profile 2009 by Selected Markets shows the travel patterns and demographics of Malaysia’s top 20 markets. The average length of stay of tourists increased by 0.3 night from 6.4 nights in 2008 to 6.7 nights last year. Tourists from the Asean region showed an increase of 10.5 per cent from 16,636,977 in 2008 to 18,386,363 last year.

Singapore is the largest contributor in the region, accounting for 51.5 per cent of the total receipts. The Asean receipts show a 12.3 per cent increase from 2008. Those who wish to buy the reports through the post need to pay RM55 for each of the reports. Overseas purchase including postage is US$60 (RM186.35) for The Malaysia Tourism Key Performance Indicators (KPI) 2009 and US$55 (RM170.80) for the second report.

For more details, contact Nurul Ain Md Kasim or Norjuliana Nordin, Finance Department, Tourism Malaysia, 15th Floor, Menara Dato’ Onn, Putra World Trade Centre, 45 Jalan Tun Ismail, 50480 Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 03-2615 8189/8185/2615 8188, fax: 03-2692 3007 or email nurul@tourism.gov.my or norjuliana@tourism.gov.my.
-newstraitstimes.