The statistics department said this was also a 16.8% rise compared with the first quarter of the year, which saw 58.6 million domestic tourists travelling within Malaysia.

In a statement, the department said domestic tourism expenditure rose to RM28.1 billion from April to June.

This was a 28.6% growth year-on-year and 16.9% increase from the previous quarter, which recorded RM24.6 billion in domestic tourist spending.

The department also released the overall figures of domestic tourism in 2023, with a total of 213.7 million domestic tourist arrivals recorded, a 24.6% increase compared with 171.6 million in 2022.

“Additionally, domestic tourism receipts rose by 32.5% to RM84.9 billion in 2023, reflecting the positive impact of the full reopening of economic activities. However, when compared with pre-pandemic levels in 2019, total domestic arrivals and receipts were still lower by 10.6% and 17.7%, respectively,” it said.

Last year, Selangor led in domestic tourism receipts at RM11.1 billion followed by Kuala Lumpur (RM11 billion), Sarawak (RM6.94 billion) and Pahang (RM6.73 billion).

The department said shopping continued to drive the spending of local tourists, contributing RM30.84 billion in total.