In 2023, the tourism industry's direct contribution to the Malaysian gross domestic product (GDP) was 4.5 percent. Tourism is one of the largest sectors of contribution to the Malaysian GDP, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its measures in 2020 and 2021, Malaysia saw a major decline in this sector.

Tourism is one of the most important sectors in a tropical country that offers a rich landscape and cultural heritage like Malaysia. In 2023, the tourism sector directly contributed more than 81 billion Malaysian ringgit to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Despite the severe impact of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, which resulted in major loss to the GDP, the tourism sector in Malaysia has shown great improvement in the past year. Increase in inbound tourism Although the number of international tourists who came to Malaysia significantly decreased when the pandemic hit, 2023 showed that the industry has almost fully recovered. In that year, Malaysia welcomed more than 20 million visitors, a number that was only slightly below the number of tourists in 2019. The Malaysian Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture forecasted that the number of inbound tourists could surpass 27 million people in 2024. Visit Malaysia 2026 With a promising outlook in the tourism sector, the Malaysian government announced the Visit Malaysia 2026 campaign to further boost the industry. Through branding and promotion on various media channels, including social media platforms, the campaign aimed to attract 35.6 million tourists and generate more than 147 billion Malaysian ringgit in tourism receipts in 2026. This is nearly twice the amount of the inbound tourism expenditure in Malaysia in 2023.