Tourism Malaysia aims to attract 35.6 million visitors and generate RM147.1 billion in revenue for Visit Malaysia 2026 with the RM400 million allocation from Budget 2025.
While this target surpasses the 10-year high of 27.4 million tourists in 2014, there are strong reasons to be optimistic.
In the first half of 2024, tourists spent 23.2% more per person compared to the same pre-pandemic period in 2019, contributing an additional RM724.85 per person, and RM3.7 billion in total revenue. This spending boost is a promising opportunity for MSMEs across the tourism sector.
“While budget has been allocated to prepare for Visit Malaysia 2026, MSMEs involved in tourism need to be prepared for this year-end already, since 300,000 to 600,000 tourists are expected to arrive this December based on Tourism Malaysia’s past 10-year data.
“Furthermore, since Malaysia will be hosting 270 meetings across all states next year as our Prime Minister takes the ASEAN chairmanship, tourism-related MSMEs need to be prepared to capture this sales opportunity by enabling payment acceptance,” said Clement Loh, Group CEO of Finexus.
For instance, small retailers or F&B hawkers can adopt DuitNow QR Standee to cater for tourists from Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, China, South Korea, and Cambodia, to make cross-border payments using their local e-wallets.
As for larger retailers and F&B operators with larger footfall, they can consider using a Sound Box to capture audible completed transactions.
A payment terminal is especially necessary to capture payments from Australian, European and American tourists who generally prefer to use card. Accordingly, MSMEs can expect more tourists from Australia, United Kingdom, and Germany, as Tourism Malaysia will be prioritising these markets for Visit Malaysia 2026.
Supporting this, tourists were also found to spend most in retail shopping (34%) in year 2023, followed by accommodation (19%) and F&B (15%). This expenditure would have contributed to retail trade and F&B revenue, which make up to close to one-fourth (23%) of total revenue in the services sector in 4Q 2023.
As for MSMEs providing accommodation or recreation activities for tourists, e-Commerce payment acceptance using card (Visa, Mastercard, Alipay+, UnionPay) is vital to attract tourists booking their service in advance on their websites.
Specifically, MSMEs in Kuala Lumpur, Pahang and Johor need to be more prepared, as these three states have the highest hotel bookings in the first half of 2024. Accommodation providers can expect an average 6.4 days occupancy for tourists, with most coming from China (1.3 million), Indonesia (1.5 million), and Thailand (0.6 million) in 2024.
As for Singaporean tourists visiting Malaysia, they can also use their PayNow e-Wallet to transfer funds via mobile number or Virtual Payment Address (VPA) to their families and friends’ e-Wallet in Malaysia. Incidentally, the first half of 2024 saw most tourists coming to Malaysia hailing from Singapore (4.2 million), followed by Indonesia (1.7 million), and China (1.4 million).
“As a licensed acquirer, we look forward to enable tourism MSMEs of all sizes for payment acceptance – whether online or offline – using our DuitNow QR Standee, Sound Box, and payment terminal like our EDC or mini POS,” said Clement Loh, Group CEO of Finexus, emphasising the company’s payment acceptance for DuitNow, Mastercard, Alipay, Alipay+, Visa, and UnionPay.
“Also, as a licensed issuer, we are excited to announce that we will be launching cross-border funds transfer for our e-Wallet customers, allowing them to transfer funds to their Singaporean families and friends and vice versa,” Loh added.
Indeed, MSMEs can take advantage of the multiple financing and loan options provided by Budget 2025 via BNM, BSN, TEKUN Nasional, Bank Rakyat Malaysia, MARA, PUNB, SME Bank, and many more.
For tourism-related financing, MSMEs can also apply to:
Tabung Khas Pelancongan (TKP) – RM200 million financing for MSMEs in tourism to meet working capital and/or asset acquisition requirements
PENJANA Tourism Financing (PTF) – RM200 million financing for businesses in tourism sectors, still affected by the pandemic
For more information on payment acceptance for MSMEs and issuance of e-Wallets and prepaid cards by MSMEs, visit https://home.finexuscards.com/.
This content is provided by Finexus Sdn Bhd.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
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