KUALA LUMPUR – The Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Terminal 1 has remained the country’s busiest airport for international arrivals, with nearly 2 million tourists recorded so far, according to Tourism Malaysia.
According to the Malaysia Tourism Highlights statistics provided by the agency’s strategic planning division for the first half of this year, KLIA received 1.92 million tourists throughout the period.
KLIA clinched the number one spot in the top five airports to receive the most number of tourists, followed by KLIA2 (1.74 million), Penang International Airport (523,920), Kota Kinabalu International Airport (290,021) and Senai International Airport (63,244).
As for bus services, the Johor Causeway saw the highest number of tourists, with 2.71 million tourists recorded in the first half of the year.
This is followed by Gelang Patah bus terminal (1.97 million), Sarawak’s Sg Tujuh Immigration, Customs, Quarantine and Security (ICQS) Complex (326,038), Bukit Kayu Hitam bus terminal (267,902) and Padang Besar bus terminal (198,546)
The Woodlands Train Checkpoint recorded 197,216 tourists from Singapore, the highest for train services.
Meanwhile, Port Klang’s South Port Passenger Terminal leads the top five sea points of entry with 132,355 tourists in the first half of the year.
Coming in second place is Johor Bahru’s Stulang Laut ferry terminal with 122,990 tourists, followed by Puteri Harbour International Ferry Terminal (54,440), Langkawi ferry terminal (51,542) and Penang Port’s ferry services (40,597).
Preference for land transport
Tourism Malaysia’s statistics also show that land-based transport is the most preferable mode of transport for tourists as well as excursionist or same-day visitors.
6.24 million tourists or 52.8% recorded for the first half of this year used land transportation to move around. This is followed by flights with 4.74 million tourists (40.1%), sea-based transportation with 640,000 tourists (5.4%), and railway services with 200,000 tourists (1.7%).
As for excursionists, 5.2 million (91.7%) used land-based transportation, followed by flights (350,000 or 6.1%), railway services (110,000 or 1.9%, and sea-based transportation (20,000 or 0.02%). – September 29, 2024