KUALA LUMPUR (May 29): Malaysia's tourist arrivals in the first quarter of 2019 (1Q19) rose 2.7% to 6.7 million from 6.52 million in the same period last year.

Based on monthly arrivals, Malaysia welcomed 2.2 million tourists in January, 2.17 million tourists in February and 2.33 million tourists in March.

In a statement yesterday, Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board said Asean maintained its lead as the biggest contributor of international tourist arrivals to Malaysia, accounting for a 68.3% share, reflecting a 1.9% increase to 4.58 million tourists in 1Q19. The increase was fuelled by positive arrival growth from markets such as Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Meanwhile, the share of the medium-haul market during 1Q19 was 21.9%, with a 8.6% increase in arrivals to 1.47 million, driven mainly by tourists from China, South Korea, Japan, India and Pakistan.

The long-haul market, which accounts for a 9.7% share, was down by 3.6% with arrivals of 652,032 in 1Q19.

Tourist receipts for the first three months of this year were also up 16.9% to RM21.4 billion from RM18.3 billion a year ago.

In terms of per capita expenditure, Malaysia saw a 13.8% year-on-year increase to RM3,201.80 from RM2,813.10.

The average length of stay in Malaysia for 1Q19 climbed to six nights from 4.2 nights a year ago.