Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysia’s domestic tourism continued to record betterperformance last year, recording a double-digit growth of 12 percent to 92.6billion RM (22.4 billion USD), according to Bernama news agency.

Chief statistician Datuk SeriDr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said for the first time since 2005, the contributionof domestic tourism expenditure outpaced the inbound tourism expenditure in2019.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia said thecontribution of domestic tourism spending towards overall tourism consumptionincreased to 50.9 percent from 48.6 percent in the preceding year.

The better performance was supported byshopping activities, which were the largest component with a contribution of42.1 percent, followed by the purchase of automotive fuel (16.7 percent) andfood and beverage (15.9 percent), it said.

Mohd Uzirsaid this expansion reflects Malaysians are increasingly interested totravel within the country, as well as spending on local tourism products.

Thistrend can also be seen in 2020 whereby the domestic tourism segment becomesvibrant following the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the world which resulted inthe closure of international borders by the government for all tourismactivities, he added.

Meanwhile,the inbound tourism expenditure increased to 89.6 billion RM in 2019 from 87.7billion RM a year earlier, with a growth of 2 percent compared to 2.3 percent in2018.

Thecontribution of the tourism sector to the economy is measured by the GrossValue Added of Tourism Industries (GVATI) which recorded a contribution of 15.9percent compared to 15.2 percent in 2018./.