In 2020, Malaysia registered a total of 4,332,722 international tourist arrivals, down 83.4% as compared to 26,100,784 recorded in 2019, according to the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). Likewise, while Asia and the Pacific recorded an 84% decrease in arrivals, Malaysia’s neighbouring ASEAN countries also saw a significant decline in the number of tourists. As per the data from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and the National Tourism Organisation (NTO), Thailand recorded -83.2%, Singapore -85.7%, Vietnam -78.7%, and Indonesia -75%.
While Malaysia’s tourist receipts plunged by 85.3% from RM86.14 billion in 2019 to RM12.69 billion in 2020, with the average per capita expenditure recorded a total of RM2,928, a decline of 11.3% from RM3,300 in 2019. Negative growth had been observed for tourists from every market. The massive drop in international tourist arrivals is attributed to the closure of Malaysian borders since 18 March 2020 due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
ASEAN countries remain Malaysia's top contributor with a 68.1% share of tourist arrivals of 2,949,363, followed by East Asia & South Asia of 870,314 arrivals with a 20.1% share. The long-haul market share was 11.8%, with 512,484 tourists from West Asia, Middle East, America, Oceania, Europe and Africa. Top ten international tourist arrivals to Malaysia were from Singapore (1,545,255), Indonesia (711,723), China (405,149), Thailand (394,413), India (155,883), Brunei (136,020), South Korea (119,750), Japan (74,383), Australia (72,680), and Vietnam (64,184).
In terms of overall tourist expenditure, the top five contributors came from Singapore, Indonesia, China, India and Thailand.
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