Malaysia's inbound tourism spending rose 39.6% in ringgit and 35.0% in US dollars — but the per-visitor figure is not published
Inbound tourism expenditure went from RM89.4 billion in 2019 to RM124.8 billion in 2025. Tourism Malaysia publishes the formula for average per capita spending but not the value, so the per-tourist figures here are our own calculation.
How much did visitors spend in Malaysia?
Inbound tourism expenditure was RM124,842.3 million in 2025 on a preliminary basis, up from RM89,421.0 million in 2019 (DOSM, Tourism Satellite Account 2025). That is a 39.6% rise.
In US dollars the same total rose 35.0%.
How much did visitors spend in Malaysia?
Expenditure incl. excursionists (RM m)
Shared linear scale from zero. Selected entries from the table below. Its dates, units, definitions and limitations still apply.
| Year | Visitor arrivals | Overnight tourists | Expenditure incl. excursionists (RM m) | Same as US$ m |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | — | 25,721,251 | 74,637.6 | 19,111 |
| 2019 | 35,045,625 | 26,100,784 | 89,421.0 | 21,588 |
| 2023 | 28,964,308 | 20,141,846 | 75,826.5 | 16,628 |
| 2024 | 37,961,485 | 25,016,698 | 107,144.5 | 23,414 |
| 2025 (preliminary) | 42,196,892 | 26,613,597 | 124,842.3 | 29,145 |
The US dollar column is a CapsWindow conversion at BIS annual average rates; DOSM publishes in ringgit only. The 2015 visitor-arrivals cell is blank because DOSM's restated visitor-arrivals series begins in 2019; for 2015 only the overnight-tourist basis is published. That is a data-coverage gap, not a zero, and no substitute figure has been spliced in.
Two bases, and why it matters
Malaysia is the market in this series most easily misread, because its headline changed basis.
Visitor arrivals are overnight tourists plus same-day excursionists. In 2025 that meant 26,613,597 tourists and 15,583,295 excursionists. Excursionists were 36.9% of the count but only 4.4% of spending — RM5,530.3 million out of RM124,842.3 million. Choosing the visitor basis therefore inflates the denominator by nearly half while adding less than a twentieth to the numerator.
The effect is visible in the first half of 2026. Visitor arrivals for January to June 2026 rose 2.5% to 21,118,039 against the same period of 2025, while overnight tourist arrivals were essentially flat at 12,847,221. The entire gain came from same-day visitors, most of them crossing by land from Singapore.
Spending per tourist: a calculation, not a publication
Malaysia does not publish this value. Tourism Malaysia defines the formula in the methodology section of Malaysia Tourism Statistics in Brief but does not print the result, and the interactive database holding it requires a login.
Dividing overnight-tourist expenditure by overnight-tourist arrivals — both from the same DOSM workbook, on matched bases — gives:
| Year | Spending per tourist (RM) | Same as US$ |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2,822 | 723 |
| 2019 | 3,322 | 802 |
| 2023 | 3,624 | 795 |
| 2024 | 4,115 | 899 |
| 2025 (preliminary) | 4,483 | 1,047 |
This is our arithmetic, not an official series. Note the 2023 row: in ringgit it is 9.1% above 2019, but in US dollars it is 0.9% below. The ringgit weakened from an average of 4.1422 to 4.5601 per US dollar over that period, and that alone flips the sign.
These figures use overnight-tourist expenditure only (DOSM Table 1A) divided by overnight-tourist arrivals, so that numerator and denominator sit on the same basis. Dividing the excursionist-inclusive total by visitor arrivals would produce a much lower number that means something else. The 2025 figures are preliminary.
Taiwan shows the same thing without any calculation
Taiwan’s tourism authority publishes spending per visitor in both currencies in the same table. Between 2024 and 2025 the figure rose 0.86% in US dollars and fell 2.13% in New Taiwan dollars. One survey, two official numbers, opposite signs.
Hong Kong is the control case. The Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the US dollar, so per-overnight-visitor spending fell 5.4% in Hong Kong dollars and 4.9% in US dollars between 2019 and 2025 — the two columns say the same thing.
Spending per tourist moves for several reasons at once: the exchange rate, length of stay, the mix of source markets, and the share of arrivals who never stay a night. For Malaysia the source-market mix matters unusually much, because Singapore accounts for a large part of the land crossings. This paragraph is interpretation; the figures in the tables are observations from published statistics.
The same comparison across Asia
| Market | Published measure | Period | Local currency | US dollars |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | spend per visitor per trip (yen) | 2019→2025 | +44.3% | +5.1% |
| Taiwan | spend per visitor per trip (both currencies published) | 2019→2025 | +6.8% | +5.9% |
| Taiwan | same measure | 2024→2025 | −2.1% | +0.9% |
| Thailand | spend per person per day (baht) | 2024→2025 | +0.8% | +8.1% |
| Hong Kong | spend per overnight visitor (HK$) | 2019→2025 | −5.4% | −4.9% |
| Indonesia | spend per visit (US dollars only published) | 2019→2025 | +28.9% | +10.6% |
| Vietnam | spend per international tourist (US dollars only published) | 2019→2024 | +6.0% | +1.1% |
Malaysia has no row here, and neither do Singapore or the Philippines, because none of the three publishes a per-visitor measure. The calculated figures earlier in this article are deliberately kept out of this table. The measures in the rows that are here are not on one definition: Thailand's is per day, the rest are per trip. The US dollar column for Japan, Thailand and Hong Kong, and the local-currency column for Indonesia and Vietnam, are CapsWindow conversions at BIS annual averages; Taiwan's two columns are both official.
What to check when reading these numbers
Check the arrivals basis. Visitors and tourists are two different counts in Malaysia, and the difference was nearly 16 million in 2025. Press coverage still quotes both interchangeably.
Check the currency. The same total rose 39.6% or 35.0% depending on the unit of measurement; both are correct.
Check whether a per-visitor figure is published or assembled. In Malaysia it is assembled, including here, and that is stated.
Check preliminary status. DOSM’s 2025 figures are preliminary and can be revised. Elsewhere in this series, Indonesia’s 2024 arrivals and the Philippines’ 2024 expenditure were both restated after first publication.
Questions & answers
How much did visitors spend in Malaysia in 2025?
Inbound tourism expenditure was RM124,842.3 million including same-day excursionists, or RM119,312.0 million for overnight tourists alone (DOSM, Tourism Satellite Account 2025, preliminary). The 2024 figures were RM107,144.5 million and RM102,931.3 million respectively.
Does Malaysia publish spending per visitor?
No. Tourism Malaysia defines 'Average Per Capita' as total visitor expenditure divided by the number of visitors in the methodology section of its publications, but the resulting values are not printed in any open source. The per-tourist figures in this article are our calculation from two DOSM series on matched bases.
Why are visitor arrivals so much higher than tourist arrivals?
Because visitor arrivals are overnight tourists plus same-day excursionists. In 2025 that was 26,613,597 tourists and 15,583,295 excursionists. Excursionists were 36.9% of the count but only 4.4% of spending.
How does the ringgit figure compare with the dollar figure?
Inbound spending rose 39.6% in ringgit between 2019 and 2025 and 35.0% in US dollars. In Japan the gap is much wider: spending per visitor rose 44.3% in yen but only 5.1% in US dollars.