KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 — Malaysia’s domestic tourism performed strongly in the first nine months of this year, with 216 million visitors and spending amounting to RM88.4 billion, representing increases of 11.8 per cent and 13.7 per cent, respectively, compared with the same period last year.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the positive momentum was in line with the performance of tourism-related industries in the third quarter of 2025, noting that retail sales of automotive fuel rose by 6.3 per cent year-on-year, reflecting sustained domestic travel activity.
“This positive momentum was further supported by an 11.4 per cent increase in domestic airport arrivals, indicating sustained mobility and travel demand among Malaysians,” he said in a statement today.
In the accommodation subsector, he said revenue rose by 14.3 per cent year-on-year, with occupancy rates recorded at 68.8 per cent for five-star hotels, 69.9 per cent for three-star hotels, and 62.8 per cent for four-star hotels.
By location, he said hotel occupancy rates in urban areas increased by 1.2 percentage points to 64 per cent compared with the same quarter last year.
Uzir said domestic tourism remains one of the main pillars of the national economy, and growth in the sector is expected to continue, further strengthening its contribution to the country’s overall economic health.
In a related development, he said Malaysia has, for the first time, ranked first globally in the biennial Open Data Inventory (ODIN) 2024/25 report released by Open Data Watch (ODW), surpassing 198 other countries.
He added that the OpenDOSM NextGen platform provides a comprehensive data catalogue and visualisation tools to facilitate data analysis by users and can be accessed here.
