INTERACTIVE: Why shopping malls are the No. 1 tourist attraction for locals

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia has many tourist attractions, but it seems that most people in the country would be happy to go to the mall.

These shopping complexes are the most popular type of destination among domestic visitors nationwide, based on data from the Statistics Department.

Shopping malls made up 44% of the most visited attractions named in the Domestic Tourism Survey Malaysia 2022 conducted by the department.

Out of the top 80 attractions cited in the survey, 35 were malls like the IOI City Mall and Sunway Pyramid in Selangor, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, and the Johor Premium Outlets.

Meanwhile, 14 places named in the survey were beaches, making it the second most visited type of destination.

Among examples of beaches in the report were Port Dickson in Negri Sembilan and Pantai Cenang in Kedah.

Taking the third spot were marketplaces like Jonker Street in Melaka and the Pasar Payang market in Terengganu.

Malaysians are mall rats

Malaysia Shopping Mall Association president Tan Sri Teo Chiang Kok said the industry was “extremely happy” that the survey had confirmed malls as the top attraction for local tourists.

“Shopping is indeed part of the Malaysian lifestyle, with at least 25% of our urban population in malls during weekends,” he said.

Teo said the association believed that malls were a top favourite as they offered more than just shopping – there are other attractions like dining, leisure and entertainment.

“With many events and activities happening throughout the year, any visit to a shopping mall always results in memorable and even exhilarating times,” he added.

Shopping in an air-conditioned, clean and safe environment was also a pull factor for tourists to spend time at malls, Teo said.

Malaysian Inbound Tourist Association founder Uzaidi Udanis said it was not surprising that malls were the number one as such places were convenient for visitors to get everything they needed.

“When locals visit cities in other states, they usually want to check out the best shopping malls even though their hometowns have places to shop at,” he said.

Uzaidi added that Malaysia’s sweltering heat may also drive some people to malls where they can cool down.

Agreeing with the survey, Sunway Malls and Theme Parks chief executive officer HC Chan said 2022 was a very robust year for Malaysia’s mall industry.

“There were two factors that boosted visitor numbers: the large inflow of liquidity from EPF (Employees Provident Fund) withdrawals and the endemic phase transition in which restrictions were lifted,” he said.

Previously, the government had allowed special EPF withdrawals to help the public with expenses as the nation began the transition out of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Chan said such withdrawals were a catalyst for the retail and mall industry.

“The lifting of restrictions as we began the transition to the endemic phase in April 2022 also paved the way for businesses to operate at full capacity,” he added.

In the survey, the department collected the responses of residents in 22,384 living quarters throughout Malaysia, to track the performance of domestic tourism here, and to identify spending patterns.

Among all states and territories, Selangor welcomed the largest number of domestic visitors last year.

Some 22 million people thronged the state, followed by Kuala Lumpur which raked in 17 million visitors and subsequently, Sarawak with 15 million people.

Back with a bang

While local tourism grew steadily from 2015 to 2019, the number of domestic trips took a dive in 2020 and 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nevertheless, local tourism is back with gusto, based on 2022’s figures.

The total number of tourism trips nationwide soared from 74.1 million in 2021 to 207.8 million trips last year – a whopping 187% jump.

Visitors also spent 21.3% more money, with an average trip expenditure in 2022 being RM308 compared with RM254 in 2021.

During such trips, domestic visitors spent the most on shopping, amounting to 38.9% of their expenses.

This was followed by food and beverage at 15.2% and fuel expenditure at 13.8%.

To spur shopping among domestic visitors, Uzaidi, who is also Inbound Tourism Alliance chairman, said local products must be more marketable, developed and promoted consistently.

“Every local tourist spot has its own unique product to offer, such as patin fish products in Temerloh and durian in Raub,” he said of the two districts in Pahang.

“We encourage small and medium-sized businesses to make their products more attractive and actively promote them as there is huge potential among domestic tourists who love to shop,” Uzaidi added.

He said such products must also be tourist-friendly, and not sold at exorbitant prices to domestic visitors.

A longer time-out

Domestic visitors are also spending more time during the holidays, with a local tourist spending an average of 2.5 days in 2022 compared with 2.2 days in 2021.

Visitors spent the most time in Labuan, with an average of 3.7 days in 2022.

The top purpose of trips by domestic visitors in 2022 was to meet with relatives and friends, with 33.7% of respondents in the survey citing this reason.

The second most common reason was to go shopping (29.9%), while 16.4% of respondents travelled to simply relax and have a good time.

With every place having its own charms, here’s a look at the most visited attractions in each state based on the survey:

Keeping local tourism alive

With international travel back in full swing now, the challenge is to keep the momentum going for domestic tourism.

Uzaidi said as Malaysians love going on holidays, they now have more options for travel, including to other countries.

Countries like Japan, Turkey and Maldives are currently eyeing Malaysians as one of their top tourist markets, he added.

“Nevertheless, we must make sure our local attractions continue to entice Malaysians and engage them with activities like hiking, batik making or even cooking classes for local dishes like nasi dagang in Terengganu.

“Such are experiences we can market to Malaysians who are looking for something more meaningful and enriching,” Uzaidi said.

He also proposed that the government offer tax incentives to Malaysians to travel locally such as by encouraging each family to spend up to RM5,000 a year on domestic trips.

“Apart from that, local hospitality services should be improved to cater to the convenience of tourists,” he added.

Sunway Malls’ Chan said he was confident that the upward trend of domestic tourism would continue.

However, its performance has yet to reach pre-pandemic levels and there’s still room to grow, he added.

Before the pandemic, the domestic tourism expenditure stood at RM103.2bil in 2019, compared with RM64.1bil in 2022.

Fortunately, for 2023, the growth in the number of domestic visitors was in the double digits, with the first quarter registering 34% more than the same period last year.

“These are healthy indicators and they should continue on this path for the remainder of the year,” said Chan.

For now, the visitor traffic in malls was still good, he said, with patronage being consistent throughout this year.

“Seasonal festivities will drive higher traffic. For Sunway Malls, we are anticipating a 5% to 10% traffic growth across our malls in tandem with these events,” he said, referring to the year-end holidays.