Malaysia’s “eye-watering” tourism promotion budget of MYR550 million (US$122.1 million) included in the tabling of the government’s 2025 budget, could quickly support consumer sentiment for the country’s casino monopoly, says Maybank Investment Bank Bhd.
That is despite the money being earmarked for Visit Malaysia Year 2026. “History tells us that Malaysian tourism industry upcycles begin not during Visit Malaysia Years but the years preceding them,” observed analyst Samuel Yin Shao Yang in a Wednesday note.
“We forecast 25.2 million and 25.7 million Resorts World Genting visitor arrivals for 2025 and 2026,” respectively, he stated.
The property at Genting Highlands, outside the capital Kuala Lumpur, is run by Genting Malaysia Bhd.
“Foreign tourists typically account for 15 to 20 percent of Resorts World Genting visitor arrivals,” observed Maybank.
“That said, we believe more domestic tourists will visit [the property] if the government encourages Malaysians to tour domestically via its ‘Cuti cuti Malaysia’ advertisement campaign,” added Mr Yin.
Nationally, “we expect Chinese, Indian and domestic tourists to drive growth” in demand for a number of tourism related services, stated the analyst.
He stated: “The continued growth in Chinese and Indian tourist arrivals started with Malaysia granting 15 days visa-free access to both nationalities in December 2023.”
In December 2024, the visa-free stay duration for those nationalities was upped to 3o days, with the overall programme also extended – to December 2026 – to “facilitate Visit Malaysia Year 2026,” added Mr Yin.
The bank said that according to its records, the Visit Malaysia Year 2026 budget is the “largest amount set aside for tourism promotion ever” by that nation’s authorities.
With that, the government was targeting for 2025 and 2026, foreign tourist arrivals of 31.4 million and 35.6 million respectively, and foreign tourism receipts of MYR125.5 billion and MYR147.1 billion for the respective years.
“Both are a huge increase from the annualised 2024 foreign tourist arrivals of 24.5 million, and 2024 foreign tourism receipts of MYR97.8 billion,” added Mr Yin.
