Malaysia has seen a great increase in tourism. In the first quarter of this year, it welcomed 10.1 million foreign visitors, a 22% increase compared to last year.
Malaysia defeated Thailand to appear as the simplest South Asian country. Thailand is facing a tourism crisis after concerns about safety has increased.
In January, Chinese actor Xing Xing was kidnapped in Thailand. Recently, an Indian tourist in Thailand attacked a tiger while married a selfie in a Thai wildlife.
For Malaysia, most Singapore tourists (4.9 million) came, followed by China (1.12 million), Indonesia (1.08 million), Thailand and Brunei. For the first time, China approved Indonesia as the second largest source of visitors, especially because of the simpler visa rules, the VN Express reported.
Malaysia, recently voted in Asia’s most popular country by Insider Monkey, introduced a 30 -day entry for Chinese and Indian citizens in December 2023. This rule has now expanded until 2026.
The country has also announced that Chinese tourists will be able to enter without visas for the next five years, maybe continuing until 2036.
In 2024, Malaysia recorded 3.29 million visitors from China, more than the previous year. The growth of tourism shows the growing popularity of Malaysia as a destination with the way in Asia, helping friendly politics and better international ties.
Where does India stand?
The Ministry of Tourism must still publish complete data on the arrival of tourists for January to March 2025. However, the summary report from January 2025 reveals numbers per month.
In January 2025, India received 9.57 foreign tourists, 13.9% lower than the number of arrivals in the same month 2019.
The United States was the best source of tourists and accounted for 20.6% of the total arrival. This was followed by the United Kingdom (11.8%), Canada (7.1%), Australia (6.4%) and Malaysia (4.7%).
Almost half of the visitors (45.4%) came to leisure, while 31.5% were part of the Indian diaspora visiting family and friends. About 9.7% arrived for business, 3.4% for health reasons and the rest for other purposes.
Delhi welcomed the highest number of tourists (33.9%), followed by Mumbai (19.6%), Chennai (8.8%), Bangalore (7.8%) and Cochin (4.7%).
(Tagstotranslate) Malaysia time
