by NUR HAZIQAH A MALEK / Pic by MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

THE international tourist arrivals to Malaysia has dropped by 83.4% year-on-year (YoY) to 4.33 million in 2020 from 26.10 million recorded in the previous year, as the massive drop in arrivals is attributed to the closure of the national borders since March 18, 2020 due to the pandemic.

According to Tourism Malaysia, the country’s tourist receipts also plunged by 85.3% to RM12.69 million in 2020 from RM86.14 billion recorded in the previous year, with the average per capita expenditure recorded a total of RM2,928, which is an 11.3% decline from RM3,300 in the previous year.

The top ten international tourist arrivals to Malaysia were from Singapore (1.55 million), 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).

The top five contributors were from Singapore, Indonesia, China, India and Thailand.

Negative growth was observed for tourists from every market, including short-haul with a large fall of 83.%, medium-haul (84.7%) and long-haul (79.7%).

The country’s top contributor being the short-haul market comprising the Asean countries, with 68.1% share of tourists arriving (2.95 million), followed by the medium-haul market with 20.1% share including East and South Asia.

The long haul market’s share was at 11.8% comprising tourists from West Asia, Middle East, America, Oceania, Europe and Africa.

According to the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), Asia and the Pacific recorded an overall 84% decrease in arrivals.

Numbers from the Pacific Asia Travel Association and National Tourism Organisation, neighbouring countries saw similar figures such as Thailand seeing an 83.2% drop in arrivals, Singapore (85.7%), Vietnam (78.7%) and Indonesia (75%).