LETTER | Are reported tourist numbers based on records or estimates?

LETTER | During the welcoming ceremony for the world’s largest traditional Chinese sailing ship “Fu Ning” to Malacca on May 1, deputy exco for Tourism, Heritage, Arts, and Culture Zaidi Attan disclosed the number of mainland China tourists to the state last year was 204,818, out of a total of 8.63 million tourists.

The Malacca state government aims to attract around one million tourists from China, with at least a three-night stay in Malacca during Visit Melaka Year 2024. 

Zaidi said, “Previously, most Chinese tourists only visited Malacca without staying overnight but recently we’ve seen an increase in those staying in hotels within the state.”

But how could anyone tell the real number of tourists to any particular city or state? Only the Immigration Department can confirm the actual number since it keeps a record of all official entries and exits of people passing through their checkpoints.

However, it is impossible to track foreign tourists going to other states, and figures issued by state authorities could be based on surveys or wild estimates, which may fool the public but make no sense to a well-trained eye.

Tourists v visitors

In any case, the term “tourists” must be clearly understood and not used interchangeably with “visitors”.

The authority on tourist numbers is the Statistics Department , which distinguishes tourists from visitors, whether foreign or domestic.

Anyone talking or writing about these numbers ought to be specific on whether they are referring to tourists or visitors, and foreign or domestic.

Otherwise, it would not be possible to know the legitimacy of Zaidi’s claim above. My educated guess is in total, there were 8.63 million foreign and domestic visitors to Malacca in 2023.

This is because most visitors were excursionists who did not stay overnight in Malacca. Only those who stayed overnight in a particular city or state are considered tourists there, while the rest of the visitors are excursionists only making day trips.

In other words, visitors can either be tourists or excursionists when it comes to reporting them in numbers.

To make announcements on a fairly accurate number of tourists to a city or state, it must have mechanisms in place to collect sufficient data from participating hotels and paid accommodations to work out an estimated number.

Most tourists are domestic, with over 70 percent staying in unpaid accommodations provided by relatives and friends, according to the Statistics Department which conducts annual surveys using methodologies honed over the years.

Nevertheless, I am delighted to read that the Malacca state government aims to attract around one million tourists from China, with at least a three-night stay this year. That would mean three million room nights to be gained by hotels and accommodation providers in the state.

Tourism is more than just headcounts as expenditures are more important, with average length of stay and room nights being major indicators. In 2019, the average length of stay for foreign tourists to Malaysia was 7.4 nights but dropped to only 2.5 days in 2022, but it is expected to rise again.

One ought to remember that Malacca was already “Truly Asia” 500 years ago with 84 languages spoken by the ethnically diverse population. Tourism has long been part of Malacca's DNA.

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