Deputy Minister of Tourism and Culture, Mas Ermieyati Samsudin said the sector contributed 31.4 per cent to overall tourism revenue of RM37.4 billion during the corresponding period last year, with tourist arrivals at 25.7 million people.

“The shopping component continues to show an increase because tourists coming to Malaysia will use a large part of their expenditure to buy goods especially when we actively conduct promotions and shopping carnivals.

“More so when Malaysia has over 500 shopping malls nationwide, including three which are listed as the top 10 biggest shopping malls in the world,” she said after opening 2016 1Malaysia End of Year Sale Carnival at Freeport A’Famosa Outlet, here today.

Mas Ermieyati said the average per capita expenditure of a tourist in the shopping sector also rose by 13 per cent to RM900.07 this year compared to RM796.85 in the same period last year.

Tourists from five countries recorded the highest spending in the shopping sector, namely, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Taiwan and Bangladesh, based on the Tourist Refund Scheme (TRS).

“The scheme is given to tourists who spend more than RM300 each to encourage foreign tourists to shop in this country,” she said.

Tourists from Singapore recorded the highest amount of spending (RM16.4 bn) in the first six months of this year, followed by Indonesia (RM4 bn), China (RM3.4 bn), Brunei (RM1.6 bn) and Thailand (RM1.6 bn).

“Other than the shopping component, revenue in the tourism sector was also contributed by components such as facilities (RM9.8 m), food and beverage (RM5.2 m) and public transportation (RM2.3 m).”

Earlier, Mas Ermieyati said the two-month 2016 1Malaysia End of The Year Sale Carnival, from Nov 1, was to lure more local and foreign tourists to shop.