by NURUL SUHAIDI / pic MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

THE domestic visitor arrivals in 2021 have declined by 49.9% with a total of 66 million visitors compared to 131.7 million visitors in the previous year, the Department of Statistic Malaysia (DoSM) said. 

Similarly, the department said the domestic tourism expenditure was also down by 54.5% to record RM18.4 billion against RM40.4 billion in 2020. 

“All states recorded a decline in total receipts due to the impact of Covid-19 and implementation of Movement Control Order during 2021, with Selangor recording the highest drop (55.2%) in domestic tourism receipts with RM3.2 billion compared to RM7.1 billion in 2020. 

“This was followed by Kuala Lumpur (KL) which received RM3.1 billion (2020: RM5.3 billion), Sarawak RM1.9 billion (2020: RM3.4 billion) and Johor RM1.3 billion (2020: RM2.4 billion),” DoSM said in a statement recently. 

The majority of the expense component with a total of RM9.3 billion came from shopping, with KL recorded the highest with RM1.9 billion, followed by Selangor (RM1.7 billion) and Sarawak (RM1.2 billion). 

Meanwhile, visiting relatives and friends was the main purpose of domestic overnight trips in 2021 for all states except Negri Sembilan and Pahang. 

“Among others, the visitors’ top purpose of domestic overnight trips for those two states are holiday, leisure and relaxation,” the department added. 

Meanwhile, DoSM revealed that the national average length of stay (ALOS) recorded a growth of 13.5% at 2.2 days compared to 1.9 days in 2020. 

“The states that recorded ALOS exceeding the national level were Kelantan (3.2 days), Sarawak (three days), Labuan (2.5 days), Sabah and Perak (2.3 days), and Putrajaya, Perlis and Terengganu at 2.2 days each.