{
  "id": 3017872,
  "title": "Malaysia catat lebih 21 juta ketibaan pelancong bagi separuh pertama 2026",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/24/malaysia-catat-lebih-21-juta-ketibaan-pelancong-bagi-separuh-pertama-3017872",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-24T11:41:30.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Malaysia Today",
    "slug": "free-malaysia-today-freemalays",
    "url": "https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/bahasa/tempatan/2026/08/24/malaysia-catat-lebih-21-juta-ketibaan-pelancong-bagi-separuh-pertama-2026"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Malaysia has recorded more than 21 million arrivals of international tourists in the first half of 2026, a 2.5% increase despite geopolitical tensions in Western Asia causing 4,111 scheduled flights to the country to be cancelled. Tourism Malaysia and immigration department data show 21,118,039 arrivals were recorded between January and June, a rise of 514,958 compared to the same period last year. However, this is the lowest growth rate since the recovery from the pandemic, with arrivals from 26 of the top 50 source markets showing a decline. \"This is mainly due to the impact of geopolitical tensions in Western Asia on international flight operations, which subsequently dampened outbound travel demand worldwide,\" Tiong King Sing, Malaysia's Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, said at a press conference during the release of the First Half Performance Report for 2026. Tiong noted that Europe and Western Asia were among the hardest-hit markets, with France being the only one of the three European markets to record growth, while arrivals from Britain and Germany fell. He said Turkey, Russia, Spain, and Poland saw increases, while markets such as the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Egypt were hit to varying degrees. \"The conflict also caused an increase in international fuel prices, raising travel costs and slowing down travel from other regions, including South Asia's India and East Asia's Taiwan and South Korea,\" Tiong said. However, Tiong said continued growth from Singapore, the Philippines, China, Central Asia, Oceania, and North America helped Malaysia maintain overall growth of 2.5%. He said Malaysia received 88,058 international flights in the first six months of the year, compared to the planned 91,486. According to Tiong, 4,111 flights were cancelled due to geopolitical tensions, but the addition of 683 new flights made the total only 3,428, or 3.7% lower than the original schedule. \"The impact of the conflict in Western Asia is clearly reflected in flight operations. Since the conflict began in February, the monthly number of cancelled scheduled flights has continued to rise,\" he added. Tiong said nine flights were cancelled in February before increasing to over 300 in March, nearly 1,000 in April, and 1,419 in June. He said the actual seating capacity amounted to approximately 17.63 million, 3.9% lower than the initial target of 18.34 million. However, this figure still represents a 6% increase compared to the same period last year, with 16.627 million seats. \"Malaysia's international aviation network continues to expand with the introduction of 23 new routes, 12 new flight services to Malaysia, and nine charter services between January and July,\" he said. Tiong said flight capacity from East Asia saw the largest increase, with over 500,000 seats or 11.9%, followed by Asean with 376,423 seats or 4.5%. \"The cancellations of flights also contributed to slower growth in international tourist arrivals to Malaysia,\" he said. The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture has strengthened marketing strategies in the Asian market, particularly in Southeast and East Asia, as a response to the changing global situation. According to Tiong, Malaysia's Visit Malaysia Year will continue until 2027 to maintain the growth momentum of the nation's tourism industry.",
  "summary": "Sebanyak 21,118,039 ketibaan direkod antara Januari hingga Jun, naik 2.5% berbanding tempoh sama tahun lepas.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Free Malaysia Today",
        "title": "Malaysia catat lebih 21 juta ketibaan pelancong bagi separuh pertama 2026",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/24/malaysia-catat-lebih-21-juta-ketibaan-pelancong-bagi-separuh-pertama",
        "published": "2026-08-24T11:41:30.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}