(Kuching, 29th) Malaysia’s Sarawak state has seen growth in visitors from Southeast Asia and China in the first two months of this year, with the Singapore market recording the most remarkable increase—a year-on-year rise of 76% in February.
Sarawak Deputy Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts, Datuk Snowdan Lawan, said at the press conference of the 3rd Southeast Asian Tour Guides Conference on Friday (March 27) that although overall visitor arrivals to Sarawak in January and February this year dropped slightly by about 4% year-on-year, the foreign tourist market continues to grow.
Focusing solely on data for February this year, Singapore stood out with visitor arrivals rising sharply from 3,583 in the same period last year to 6,314, an increase of 76.22%. The China market also saw double-digit growth of 16.87%, reaching 8,778 visitors; visitors from the Philippines increased 13.11% to 3,917; while visitors from Indonesia rose slightly by 2.94% to 50,611.
Snowdan Lawan said: “This shows that Sarawak’s promotional efforts in regional markets, especially Southeast Asia and China, are gradually taking effect, and demonstrates the great potential of these markets.”
However, the number of visitors from Brunei, Sarawak’s largest tourist source country, dropped slightly from 110,455 in February last year to 106,955 this year.
Malaysian domestic tourists to Sarawak also decreased significantly, from 217,758 in February last year down to 166,706 this year—a year-on-year decrease of 23.44%.
Snowdan Lawan stated that the current international situation is unpredictable, impacting long-haul tourism markets. Therefore, Sarawak will adjust its tourism strategies to focus on regional markets, especially Southeast Asian countries, to ensure the steady development of the tourism sector.
This year is Malaysia Tourism Year, and Sarawak has set a target of attracting 5 million visitors, with the aim of developing into a regional tourism hub and achieving an annual growth of 7.5% in visitor arrivals by 2030.
Focusing solely on data for February this year, Singapore stood out with visitor arrivals rising sharply from 3,583 in the same period last year to 6,314, an increase of 76.22%. The China market also saw double-digit growth of 16.87%, reaching 8,778 visitors; visitors from the Philippines increased 13.11% to 3,917; while visitors from Indonesia rose slightly by 2.94% to 50,611.
Snowdan Lawan said: “This shows that Sarawak’s promotional efforts in regional markets, especially Southeast Asia and China, are gradually taking effect, and demonstrates the great potential of these markets.”
However, the number of visitors from Brunei, Sarawak’s largest tourist source country, dropped slightly from 110,455 in February last year to 106,955 this year.
Malaysian domestic tourists to Sarawak also decreased significantly, from 217,758 in February last year down to 166,706 this year—a year-on-year decrease of 23.44%.
Snowdan Lawan stated that the current international situation is unpredictable, impacting long-haul tourism markets. Therefore, Sarawak will adjust its tourism strategies to focus on regional markets, especially Southeast Asian countries, to ensure the steady development of the tourism sector.
This year is Malaysia Tourism Year, and Sarawak has set a target of attracting 5 million visitors, with the aim of developing into a regional tourism hub and achieving an annual growth of 7.5% in visitor arrivals by 2030.