Domestic Tourism dominated with 97.4 per cent to tourism expenditure in 2021

Gross Value Added of Tourism Industries (GVATI) amounted to RM197.9 billion contributing 12.8% to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared to 14.1 per cent in 2020. Based on the tourism subsectors performance, almost all industries have recorded negative growth rate except Retail sale of automotive fuel (4.7%), Retail trade (4.4%) and Country-specific tourism services (3.4%). Retail trade remained the main contributor to the tourism industry (56.1%).

Tourism Direct Gross Domestic Product (TDGDP) recorded RM13.1 billion compared to RM28.4 billion in 2020, tumbled 53.8 per cent (2020: -72.2%). Overall, TDGDP contributed 0.9 per cent to GDP as against 2.0 per cent in 2020. The three main products in TDGDP were Retail trade, Accommodation and Food & beverage serving services with a combined share of 73.5 per cent in 2021.

Inbound tourism expenditure plunged 96.6 per cent to RM0.47 billion in 2021 in tandem with the decline in the number of foreign tourist arrivals to Malaysia. The Internal tourism consumption has generated RM17.9 billion, decreased by 65.8 percent from the previous year. Domestic tourism showed a significant performance by contributing 97.4 per cent to the total internal tourism consumption while inbound tourism recorded 2.6 per cent.

Domestic tourism expenditure recorded RM17.5 billion in 2021 compared to RM38.6 billion in the previous year with a decrease of 54.8 per cent (2020: -58.3%). The three tourism products that recorded a significant double-digit decline were Travel agency services (-77.7%), followed by Passenger transport services (-64.5%) and Food & beverage serving services (-62.9%).

Employment in the tourism industry recorded 3.52 million people in 2021 which contributed 23.4 per cent to the total employment. The employment of this industry has recovered to 1.8 per cent from a negative 2.9 per cent in the previous year.

The full publication of the Tourism Satellite Account 2021 can be downloaded through  eStatistik portal.

Released by:

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS MALAYSIA
28 September 2022

Contact person:

Baharudin bin Mohamad
Public Relation Officer
Strategic Communication and International Division
Department of Statistics, Malaysia
Tel : +603-8885 7942
Fax : +603-8888 9248
Email : baharudin[at]dosm.gov.my