A year after borders reopened, Malaysia’s hotel occupancy rate now close to pre-pandemic level

[KUALA LUMPUR] Nearly a year to the day after Malaysia reopened its borders, the hotel industry is seeing occupancy rates almost back to what they were before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Christina Toh, president of the Malaysian Association of Hotels, said hotels in the country recovered well in 2022 after the government reopened the economy last April and more tourists – both domestic and international – returned.

Since then, the occupancy rate went up from 36 per cent to hit 54 per cent. Before the pandemic, the rate was around 60 per cent in 2019, according to Tourism Malaysia data.