Malaysia Overtakes Thailand as Most-Visited ASEAN Country in 2024 with 38 Million Foreign Tourist Arrivals

The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC) recently revealed that Malaysia surpassed its target for foreign tourist arrivals last year and will be reevaluating the 36 million international tourist arrivals target set for 2025.

Its Minister, Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing, recently announced that in 2024, Malaysia recorded a whopping 38 million foreign tourist arrivals, far above the 27.3 million target.

Malaysia recorded 38 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2024

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Kosmo! quoted Tiong as saying that it would be counterproductive to set the Visit Malaysia 2026 target to 36 million foreign arrivals as it’s lower than the tourism numbers recorded last year.

He asserted,

“If we keep the target at 36 million, it would be lower than the current achievement. We will reevaluate the target to be more realistic and to get a bigger economic impact on our country in terms of tourism,”

Datuk seri tiong king sing

Furthermore, MOTAC will also set the target of generating at least RM150 billion from the tourism sector, with a focus on the expenditure per capita of foreign tourists, which is currently at RM3,000 per capita.

Malaysia overtakes Thailand as the most-visited ASEAN country in 2024

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The international arrivals figure for 2024 revealed by Tiong is quite significant, as it puts Malaysia in the top spot among ASEAN countries for the most foreign arrivals in the calendar year. 

For instance, while Bangkok, Thailand, was the world’s most-visited city last year and Kuala Lumpur was ranked 10th, Thailand recorded 35.54 million international arrivals last year compared to Malaysia’s 38 million.

For reference, here are the available international tourist arrivals for ASEAN nations in 2024:

1. Malaysia – 38 million
2. Thailand – 35.54 million
3. Vietnam – 17.5 million
4. Singapore* – 15.3 million
5. Indonesia* – 12.66 million
6. Cambodia – 6.7 million
7. Philippines – 5.43 million
8. Laos* – 5 million
9. Myanmar* – 0.9 million

Do note that the latest statistics for Singapore, Indonesia and Laos are only for the first 11 months of 2024, while the tourism statistic for Brunei last year has not been disclosed by the country’s Tourism Ministry.

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Moreover, it is also worth noting that the official statistics for 2024 foreign arrivals in Malaysia published by Tourism Malaysia only list the international arrivals from January to November 2024, which is 34.1 million, and included excursionists (travellers who didn’t spend the night in Malaysia).

Hence, it is believed that the 38 million figure mentioned by Tiong is the latest statistic for the whole of 2024 that is yet to be made public.

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With that in mind, what do you guys think of Malaysia’s foreign tourist arrivals last year? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!

Also read: Malaysians Visiting Thailand are Required to Fill In Online Arrival & Departure Card Starting May 2025