Up until the end of the first half of 2023, at the time when this issue is out, the travel and tourism industry continues to flourish. Some destinations like Phuket and Bali would have already reached the numbers of tourist arrivals that match the pre-pandemic levels. Last May 2023, Malaysia announced that the country might be able to receive 16.1 million tourist arrivals by year end, barring any untoward incident. Though this is still a far cry from the over 26 million international tourist arrivals chalked up in 2019, the Malaysian government forecasts that the travel and tourism industry would continue to grow more than the 10 million international tourist arrivals recorded in 2022.
