Selangor rakes in highest domestic tourism receipt of RM13.2bn

Selangor witnessed the highest number of domestic tourism receipt with a total of RM13.2 billion, according to the inaugural Domestic Tourism Survey by State 2018 survey by the Department of Statistics Malaysia. Selangor was also the most visited state with 30.2 million visitors.Four other states with the highest number of domestic tourism receipts were Kuala Lumpur (RM10.2 billion), Sarawak (RM8.1 billion), Sabah (RM7.5 billion) and Pahang (RM7.4 billion). Meanwhile, Sabah (20.4 million visitors), Sarawak (19.4 million visitors), W.P. Kuala Lumpur (19.2 million visitors) and Pahang (18.1 million visitors) were also among the top five most visited states. [gallery link="file" columns="2" ids="274363,274362"]On the other hand, Labuan (RM400 million), Perlis (RM600 million) and Putrajaya (RM1 billion) were the states with the lowest domestic tourism receipts. They also had the lowest number of domestic visitor arrivals, with Labuan amassing 545,000, Putrajaya about 1.9 million visitors and Perlis about 2.2 million visitors.According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, domestic tourism expenditure registered a double-digit growth of 12.3% in 2018, up from 10.8% in 2017. The performance was fuelled by the growth recorded by shopping, which remained the largest component of domestic tourism expenditure and accounted for 42%. The share of domestic tourism expenditure to the total internal tourism consumption expanded to 48.6% in 2018, while the remaining 51.4% from inbound tourism expenditure.Overall, the tourism industry continued to record a better performance in 2018. The share of gross value added tourism industries (GVATI) to GDP increased from 14.6% in 2017 to 15.2% in 2018, garnering RM220.6 billion. The growth was supported by retail trade and F&B with a combined share of 63.6%.In 2018, employment in the tourism industry grew by 4.9% (3.5 million persons) that contributed 23.5% to the total employment. F&B serving services and retail trade recorded the highest employment in the tourism industry with a share of 34.1% and 33.1% respectively.(Photo courtesy: 123RF)