Malaysia ranks as the region’s most visited country in 2025

• As of YTD November 2025, Malaysia welcomed 24 million foreign arrivals, exceeding the same time in 2024.
• The 30-day visa-free policy for China and India has already increased arrivals (as of YTD Nov 2025: +21% YoY in Chinese tourists, +12% YoY in Indian tourists), with further growth expected as air connectivity improves.

The Kuala Lumpur hotel market is expected to undergo a significant expansion in 2026

• In preparation for Visit Malaysia 2026, the expansion in the hotel market is focused on the upscale and luxury segments. A total of 2,641 new hotel rooms is expected to enter the market in 2026.
• Notable upcoming hotel openings this year will include the 279-key Waldorf Astoria Kuala Lumpur, the 259-key Regent Kuala Lumpur and the 488-key Conrad Kuala Lumpur.

Performance has been steadily recovering since the pandemic, with Occupancy and ADR exceeding 2019 levels

• Trading performance of the Kuala Lumpur luxury hotel market has remained robust in 2025, with RevPAR expanding 1.1% year-on-year. This represents a 22.7% increase compared with 2019 levels.
• By YTD Q3 2024, Malaysia’s year-on-year deal volume had increased by 93%. This positive sentiment, supported by robust market fundamentals, has fuelled growing investor appetite to capitalise on the attractive capital values available within the Malaysian hotel sector.

Outlook: To facilitate ease of travel and enhance visitor experience, the government has heavily invested in transportation infrastructure upgrades

• There are upcoming plans for Kuala Lumpur International Airport to undergo several significant upgrades by 2026, which will help accommodate the increasing passenger traffic, projected to reach 140 million passengers per year by 2050.
• With the launch of the open-door visa-free policy, visitors from larger source markets such as Mainland China and India have greater flexibility entering Malaysia, which has been met with airlines expanding flight connections at higher frequencies to facilitate more visitors.