Latest news with #foreignvisitors
Malay Mail
a day ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
Malaysia records 16.9m tourist arrivals in first five months of 2025, a 20.4pc increase from last year
KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — Malaysia recorded an increase of 20.4 per cent in foreign tourist arrivals from January to May this year, with a total of 16.94 million visitors compared to 14.07 million during the same period in 2024. According to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, the top five markets were led by Singapore, which remained the largest contributor with 8.34 million visitors, a 26.5 per cent increase compared to the previous year. 'Indonesia ranked second with 1.82 million visitors (up 10.3 per cent), followed by China with 1.81 million visitors, recording the highest growth rate of 38.8 per cent. Thailand saw 1.06 million arrivals (up 5.2 per cent), while India recorded 664,811 visitors, reflecting a strong recovery with a 32.0 per cent increase,' it said in a parliamentary written reply. The ministry added that arrivals from long-haul markets also showed strong performance, with Australia and the United Kingdom recording increases of 16.6 per cent and 8.7 per cent respectively, amounting to 198,968 and 185,197 foreign visitors. 'The increase in foreign tourist arrivals clearly reflects the effectiveness of various initiatives undertaken by the government through strategic approaches, progressive policies such as the Visa Liberalisation Plan (VLP), provision of support and incentives to industry players, and the implementation of high-impact promotional campaigns, including digital promotions and strategic collaborations with online platforms and airlines,' the ministry said. The ministry was responding to Seputeh MP Teresa Kok Suh Sim, who asked for the breakdown of foreign tourist arrivals, by country, to Malaysia from January to June 2025 compared with the breakdown during the same period in 2024 and the projected breakdown of foreign tourist arrivals for Visit Malaysia Year 2026. The ministry said it is targeting 47 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2026, with a particular focus on key markets showing high growth potential. 'These target markets include Central Asia, the Middle East, Asean, Europe, and Oceania,' it added.
Malay Mail
4 days ago
- Malay Mail
Malaysia's autogates for foreign visitors 'fully recovered' at KLIA, JB checkpoints
SEPANG, July 20 — The autogate system for foreign visitors at all entry points nationwide has been fully restored, the Border Control and Protection Agency (AKPS) said today. AKPS director-general Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain confirmed this in a press conference here at Terminal 1, Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). MORE TO COME
NHK
7 days ago
- NHK
Foreign visitors to Japan top 20 million by June for first time
The number of foreign visitors to Japan in the first six months of this year reached 21.51 million, a 21 percent increase compared with the same period last year. The figure topped 20 million at the fastest pace on record. The Japan National Tourism Organization says an estimated 3.37 million foreigners visited Japan in June, up 7.6 percent from a year earlier and the highest figure ever for the month. Visitors from South Korea rose by 7.7 percent during the period, followed by those from China, up 53.5 percent. Russian tourists roughly doubled from the same period last year, increasing by 103.7 percent. Regions and countries whose numbers rose significantly included the Middle East, at 53.8 percent, and Spain, at 49.1 percent. Meanwhile, visitors from Hong Kong edged down 0.4 percent. The JNTO attributes the drop to unfounded rumors that Japan would suffer a major calamity in early July. The Japan Tourism Agency says foreign travelers spent a record 32.27 billion dollars in the country in the half-year. That's up 22.9 percent from the same period last year. JTA Commissioner Murata Shigeki said Japan is a popular destination for travelers from Asia, which accounts for about 80 percent of foreigners traveling to the country. He noted that it remains on a strong growth trajectory as air travel has recovered. He plans to come up with new promotional strategies and hopes to lure more travelers to visit rural Japan to hit the Japanese government's target of bringing 60 million foreign travelers by 2030. Murata also said the government had denied as groundless rumors of an impending natural disaster, but some travelers in Hong Kong refrained from visiting Japan nonetheless. He said the agency will continue to reflect on what it can do in the face of such a situation. He said he's monitoring travel trends from Hong Kong, after hearing that interest in tours to Japan is growing.
South China Morning Post
16-07-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China's visa-free boom picks up steam as entries soar in first half of 2025
China's expanded efforts to encourage visitors continued to pay off in the first half of 2025, with the number of visa-free foreign entries rising by more than half compared to the same period a year earlier. Foreign nationals made 38 million trips in and out of the country, a 30 per cent increase year on year, according to the administration. 'Visa facilitation measures have effectively attracted large numbers of foreign visitors for tourism and business, driving sustained growth in inbound consumption,' administration spokeswoman Lu Ning said. A previous long-standing policy allowed travellers without a Chinese visa to transit through the country visa-free for up to 24 hours if they held valid travel documents with onwards confirmation to a third country, consistent with international practice. In the 2010s, Chinese cities such as Xiamen and Kunming introduced 72-hour or 144-hour visa-free transit to attract foreign visitors, though travel was restricted within those individual cities. 03:15 What to know: new mainland travel permits for non-Chinese nationals in Hong Kong and Macau What to know: new mainland travel permits for non-Chinese nationals in Hong Kong and Macau
Daily Mail
16-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
The US city foreign tourists aren't snubbing amid Trump boycott
As cities across the US attract a dwindling numbers of foreign tourists upset over Donald Trump 's presidency, America's biggest and brightest metropolis has managed to keep drawing visitors in. New York City's tourism sector is not only surviving a boycott by non-citizens, but thriving. The Big Apple is expected to see 12 million foreign tourists this year, roughly the same as in 2024, according to the Wall Street Journal. During roughly the first half of the year, hotels in the Big Apple had an 82 percent occupancy rate - nearly 20 percent above the national rate. NYC's major attractions are even outdoing their numbers from 2024, when the city hosted a near–record 64 million tourists. Broadway shows are pulling in the most audience members since 2019, before the industry was rocked by pandemic restrictions, and museums in the city are also welcoming more visitors, the WSJ reported. 'In terms of overall demand, New York is holding up well nationally,' Gabe Buerkle, senior analyst at real–estate investment firm Cohen & Steers, told the WSJ. 'New York has remained an outperformer, benefiting from domestic tourism and business demand.' By comparison, Los Angeles - the next most popular US city among international tourists in 2024, according to a report by Euromonitor - is projected to see a decrease in international tourists this year. 'The LA Tourism and Convention Bureau is anticipating year-over-year reductions in total international visitors to LA by between 25 and 30 percent,' LAWA CEO John Ackerman told NBC. The third most popular US city for foreign travelers, Las Vegas, has also seen fewer tourists, with visits falling 7.8 percent from March 2024 to March 2025, according to Travel Weekly. Shrinking numbers of foreign tourists in the US can be at least partly attributed to Trump's presidency . Foreign travelers say they are finding it hard to secure visas under the Trump administration's policies. Canadian travel to the US was down 13 percent year-over-year in June, according to airport traffic through customs data, and European visitors were down 3 percent, analyst Buerkle said. Visits to the US are expected to decline by 5.1 percent in 2025, which will ultimately contribute to a $64 billion loss for the domestic tourism industry, according to Tourism Economics. The research firm originally forecasted a nearly 9 percent tourism jump this year, a prediction that was revised late last month because of 'polarizing Trump Administration policies and rhetoric.' 'There's been a dramatic shift in our outlook,' Adam Sacks, president of Tourism Economics, told the Washington Post. 'You're looking at a much weaker economic engine than what otherwise would've been, not just because of tariffs, but the rhetoric and condescending tone around it.' Regardless of national struggles, New York City appears to be on the up and up.
