Chinese Visitors to Malaysia up 8.8 pct in First Quarter

Malaysia saw its total tourist arrivals rose 2.7 percent year-on-year to 6.7 million in the first quarter of this year, with tourism receipts increased by 16.9 percent to 21.4 billion ringgit (5.1 billion U.S. dollars), official data showed Wednesday.

According to the Malaysian Tourism Board, Chinese remained one of the top three key visitors to Malaysia, up 8.8 percent year-on-year to more than 841,800 in the first quarter.

Singaporeans who accounted for 39.22 percent of total arrivals, dipped 1.5 percent year-on-year to 2.63 million in the first quarter.

Indonesian arrivals, however, jumped 17.1 percent to 924,916.

Meanwhile, tourist expenditure per capita grew 13.8 percent year-on-year to 3,202 ringgit in the first quarter.

In terms of total tourist expenditure, Singaporeans and Chinese spending topped the list at 6.2 billion ringgit and 3.7 billion ringgit, respectively.