Regardless the economic blow prevailing in Malaysia, the tourism sector is proving quite to bounce back. Between January and September, the tourist arrivals rose 3.7 percent from 19.4 million to 20.1 million, compared to the same period last year.

 In general, with respect to the last year’s domestic tourism industry which recorded a growth statistic in several states for the domestic tourists hitting a maximum of 10.9 percent increase will continue to prevail this year as well. According to the Malaysian Association of Hotels, although overall tourist arrivals had increased, hotel occupancy rate this year was at 60.8 percent, down from 65.51 percent in 2018.

Yap Lip Seng, its chief executive officer said this was due to the prudent spending of most Malaysians along with the rise in hotels and room inventory in the country. At present, there are currently 53,000 homestays registered under the platform which can be considered as one of the factors to increase in room inventory.

 He said “Spending pattern for Malaysians has changed. While many avoid international travel due to the weak ringgit and other economic pressures, domestic travelers have turned to prudent spending. On top of this, Airbnb has become a popular choice for discerning travelers due to affordable price ranges,”.

He added, “We are still seeing an increase of hotels, especially in major cities, but the demand is stagnant or has even gone down, this had diluted business for everyone,”.

He said hotel occupancy in the capital and Melaka during school holidays had shown a slight increase during the long school holiday period, compared with the same period last year. Although the occupancy rate had dropped in Penang, Johor and Kota Kinabalu. The hotel occupancy rate in Johor, Penang and Kota Kinabalu had each declined between five to 10 percent during the holiday season.

“Overall, the occupancy rate in Kuala Lumpur has increased at about five percent, with one
to two percent in Melaka, predominantly from domestic travelers.