Kuala lumpur: Malaysia's domestic tourism recorded a strong performance in the first nine months of 2025, with a total of 216 million visitors and spending amounting to RM88.4 billion, representing increases of 11.8 per cent and 13.7 per cent, respectively, compared with the same period last year.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin stated that the positive momentum aligns with the performance of tourism-related industries in the third quarter of 2025. Retail sales of automotive fuel rose by 6.3 per cent year-on-year, reflecting sustained domestic travel activity.

He noted that the positive momentum was further supported by an 11.4 per cent increase in domestic airport arrivals, indicating sustained mobility and travel demand among Malaysians. In the accommodation sub-sector, revenue rose by 14.3 per cent year-on-year, with occupancy rates recorded at 68.8 per cent for five-star hotels, 69.9 per cent for three-star hotels, and 62.8 per cent for four-star hotels.

By location, hotel occupancy rates in urban areas increased by 1.2 percentage points to 64 per cent compared with the same quarter last year. Mohd Uzir emphasized that domestic tourism remains one of the main pillars of the national economy, and growth in the sector is expected to continue, further strengthening its contribution to the country's overall economic health.

In a related development, Malaysia has, for the first time, ranked first globally in the biennial Open Data Inventory (ODIN) 2024/25 report released by Open Data Watch (ODW), surpassing 198 other countries. The OpenDOSM NextGen platform provides a comprehensive data catalogue and visualisation tools to facilitate data analysis by users and can be accessed via the open.dosm.gov.my portal.