The Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) is currently experiencing a continuous decline as the Republic reported its weakest financial performance in the first 9 months of 2025 since the COVID-19 pandemic, as reported by Nikkei Asia.
In fact, IDR posted its lowest performance against the Malaysian Ringgit (RM) today (6 November) with RM1 hitting IDR3996.85. It’s the worst IDR performance against the RM in 10 years, according to the decade-long exchange rate chart by XE.com.
2.27 million Malaysian tourists visited Indonesia in 2024, more than any other nationality
Accordingly, many Malaysian tourists are expected to travel to Indonesia due to the favourable exchange rate, which has been the case for the recent past too. In 2023, 1.9 million Malaysians visited Indonesia, more than any other nationality.
The latest statistics by Statistics Indonesia (BPS), which are for international tourist arrivals to Indonesia in 2024, saw Malaysians retaining the title and even recording an increase in travellers.
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A whopping 2,278,281 Malaysian tourists visited Indonesia in 2024, making up 16.4% of all foreign arrivals in the Republic!
In second place is Australia with 1,671,222 (12%), followed by Singapore with 1,408,915 (10.1%).
Malaysian tourists are the most ‘kedekut’ while travelling in Indonesia
However, despite topping the charts for the number of foreign tourists in Indonesia for 2024, Malaysian travellers recorded the polar opposite in another metric.
Get this, Malaysian tourists are the ‘stingiest’ among all foreign tourists in Indonesia, spending the least while in the country.
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According to statistics on expenditure of foreign tourists while in Indonesia by BPS, Malaysian tourists spent USD693 (~RM2899) on average while travelling in the country in 2024, the lowest of any nationality.
Meanwhile, Singaporean travellers to Indonesia recorded the second lowest expenditure in the Republic in 2024, USD708 on average.
On the other end of the spectrum, tourists from Portugal spent the most while travelling in Indonesia, a whopping USD20,001 on average.
Of course, it is worth noting that the average expenditure of each nationality may be affected by the number of tourists from each country, though BPS didn’t expressly mention it in the statistics.
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So, what do you guys think of the dichotomy between the 2 statistics for Malaysian tourists in Indonesia? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
