Malaysia’s tourism industry grew 8.6% in 2025, driven by strong inbound and domestic tourism spending, with value added reaching RM323 billion.
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s tourism industry generated RM323 billion in value added last year, contributing 15.9% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
In its Tourism Satellite Account 2025 released today, DOSM said the industry expanded by 8.6% in 2025, compared with 7.8% in 2024, driven by strong demand from inbound and domestic tourism expenditure.
“The tourism industry generated RM323.0 billion of value added in 2025, contributing 15.9% to Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“Internal tourism expenditure grew 15.2% to RM236.9 billion last year, from RM205.6 billion in 2024.
“Inbound tourism expenditure accounted for 52.7% of internal tourism expenditure, while domestic tourism expenditure made up the remaining 47.3%,” it said.
DOSM said inbound tourism expenditure surged 16.5% to RM124.8 billion, with tourists accounting for 95.6% and excursionists 4.4%.
Domestic tourism expenditure, meanwhile, rose 13.8% to RM112.1 billion, with tourists contributing 58.3% and excursionists 41.7%.
Retail trade was the largest contributor to tourism industry value added at 50.6%, followed by food and beverage services at 16.4%.
Country-specific tourism characteristic services, including health and meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) activities, accounted for 13.1%.
Accommodation contributed 9.3%, while cultural, sports and recreational activities accounted for 4.3%.
Meanwhile, tourism-related industries employed 3.7 million people in 2025, representing 22.1% of total employment in Malaysia.
DOSM said employment in tourism-related industries grew by 3.5% last year, compared with 4.6% in 2024.
Retail trade accounted for 37.9% of tourism-related employment, followed by food and beverage serving services at 36.7% and country-specific tourism characteristic services at 10.5%.
“These three tourism sub-sectors accounted for 85.1% of the total employment in tourism-related industries,” it said.