What does this subject have to do with me?
my country's economic growth mainly depends on trade and tourism. Borders are like the lifeline of the economy. Whether they are open or not will affect trade and tourism activities, as well as the employment opportunities that come with them. In addition, border personnel exchanges also promote social connections, including family reunions and cross-border cooperation, which in turn promotes social development and health.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced our country to close its borders for 744 days from March 2020. It was not until April last year that our country once again shouted "Selamat Datang" to overseas tourists, and the long-suppressed Malaysians also launched retaliatory tourism!
From the number of passports issued to the number of airport passengers, what is the "grand occasion" like in the year after the country's borders reopened?
As more and more countries open their borders, the number of people applying for or renewing passports has increased dramatically, and the authorities have extended their office hours to cope with the demand. Last year, a total of 2,564,912 international passports were issued in our country, 4.8 times more than in 2021.
In the six months after the border reopened in April last year, a total of 16,086,484 Chinese people left the country, 20 times more than the same period in 2021!
In February this year, the passenger volume at our airports was 5.766 million, reaching 58% before the COVID-19 outbreak (December 2019); in December last year, it reached the highest level since February 2020.
Last year, the number of international flight passengers totaled 16.5 million, and the popular overseas destinations from our country were Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam and India.
Last year, Malaysia welcomed a total of 10,070,964 overseas tourists, with the top three coming from neighbouring countries such as Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand. The three countries had a total of 7.42 million tourists, or 74% of the total number of tourists.
Last year, overseas tourists' total spending in the country was RM28.2283 billion, 117 times more than in 2021, but 67.2% less than in 2019.
In an exclusive interview with Bernama earlier, Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Abdul Rashid said the country's tourism industry is recovering well and is expected to continue to grow.
“In fact, we are seeing airlines increasing capacity to meet higher travel demand.”
In the first quarter of this year, the country's economy achieved a growth of 5.6%, which was better than expected. The central bank pointed out that in addition to the further expansion of private sector spending and household consumption, the increase in tourism activities also promoted the economic growth rate in this quarter.
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