THE best measures of success for inbound tourism are arrival figures and tourism receipts. Arrivals are recorded at international checkpoints nationwide, where entries and exits can be by land, air or sea.
Foreigners that arrived and exited the same day are termed excursionists, and those that stayed for at least one night in our country are tourists. Although all foreigners are welcome, visitors who stay longer naturally contribute more to our tourism receipts.
Take last year for example, 25 million foreign tourists spent RM102.2 bil in Malaysia, whereas 13 million foreign excursionists spent only RM4.5 bil. Combined, the 38 million foreign visitors contributed RM106.7 bil in 2024.
So, what is the targeted number of visitor and tourist arrivals for Visit Malaysia 2026 (VM2026)? The numbers have kept changing, partly because reporters and editors kept interchanging visitors and tourists freely when reporting arrival figures, which is a grave error for technical terms with distinct definitions.
Early this year on January 6 at the launch of VM2026 at Hangar 6 of MAB Engineering Complex in Sepang officiated by the Prime Minister, the target then was to welcome 35.6 million tourists and generate RM147.1 bil in tourism receipts.
In April, Tourism Malaysia director-general Datuk Manoharan Periasamy said it is aiming for 45 million visitor arrivals. Later in September, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the government is targeting 43 million foreign visitors this year and 47 million in 2026.
The latest reported figures on ‘tourist’ arrivals to Malaysia is until August at 28,242,804, averaging 3,549,350 a month or 42,364,206 a year.
Obviously, the figures are for visitor arrivals, not tourist arrivals as wrongly reported by a local English daily, and carried by a Singapore newspaper.
The ‘Visitor Performance to Malaysia’ posted by Tourism Malaysia is still until April. Until it is updated to August, the breakdown for visitor arrivals into tourists and excursionists is still unknown to the public.
Likewise, there has been no disclosure on the number of foreign tourists and excursionists targeted for VM2026.
Be that as it may, will VM2026 be a resounding success? Yes, it is likely, barring circumstances that are beyond our control, such as another pandemic, or war broke out on land or sea within the Asean region, or political upheaval in our country, as the next General Election likely to be held in 2027 could be brought forward.
If targets for VM2026 are achieved, the main contributions will come from Penang, Perak, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Johor, Sarawak, Sabah and Pahang (particularly Genting Highlands), with Kelantan and Kedah contributing the least. Foreign and domestic visitors naturally go to places that are most welcoming.
But if loudmouthed local politicians are not reined in, they could also affect foreign visitor arrivals, as reports and videos could easily go viral if people are targeted for their lifestyles, such as wearing light clothings in hot weather or enjoying a cold beer but seen by warped minds as worse than taking illicit drugs or bribes.
Unfortunately, politicians in the opposition will make use of every opportunity to pull down the government of the day, even at the expense of national interest.
They only want to gain power by being popular and would keep indulging in identity politics by championing race, religion, language or lifestyles by putting others down.
Although meant for their blind or naive supporters, the world is also watching. Sometimes, it takes just one disgusting video to go viral or an ugly incident to spark a chain reaction.
As such, our local tourism authorities must be ready with contingency plans to contain them before they morphed into full-blown disasters.
Finally, industry players who keep harping on promotions ought to know that publicity is a double-edged sword, and bad news travels much faster than good.
Without connectivity, convenience, comfort and courtesy, natural attractions or man-made events, however good they may be, would not draw many other fellow human beings. ‒ Oct 10, 2025
YS Chan is master trainer for Mesra Malaysia and Travel and Tours Enhancement Course and an Asean Tourism Master Trainer. He is also a tourism and transport business consultant.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Main image: The Star
