Domestic tourism gaining traction

KUALA LUMPUR: The domestic tourism market is gaining traction as more Malaysians are preferring to travel and venture locally, while the country continues to be a favourite tourism destination among travellers, especially from China and Singapore.

World2Holiday Travel and Tours Manager Ashley Ng Mei Luan said most of the enquiries received by the agency were from families wanting to travel around the country.

“Penang, Melaka and Cameron Highlands remain as favourite destinations for families.

“As a travel agency, we help to ensure that their stay goes smoothly as year-end holiday planning is quite hectic due to the high number of tourists,” she told Bernama, adding that the stronger US dollar resulted in local families forgoing international travel.

Ng said Penang and Melaka remained as the favourite among tourists because of the food and local culture while Cameron Highlands was sought after for its cool weather.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for low-cost airline operator AirAsia, said inbound passengers spiked by 20 per cent in the final two weeks of the year due to the school holidays compared to other non-peak months.

“Perak has emerged as one of the top tourism spots in Malaysia and is on par with Penang and Melaka,” he said.

“Last year, our top enquiries for Southeast Asian destinations were for Vietnam (Halong Bay) and Cambodia (Sihanoukville) as there are direct flights to these locations.

“But this year they choose to travel locally as the US dollar is much more expensive now and a majority of the places in Vietnam and Cambodia use the US dollar,” she said.

The ringgit stood at 4.1750/1790 today compared with 4.0830/0860 against the US dollar at the same time last year.

As for outbound travels, popular destinations were Incheon (Korea), Phu Quoc and Nha Trang (Vietnam) and Sihanoukville (Cambodia), he said.