Sabah Tourism Statistics 2026 — 3.79M Visitors, RM8.74B

Tourism Overview

The 3,793,709 arrivals in 2025 were 20.5% more than in 2024 and passed the 3.5 million target, though still below the 4,195,903 of 2019. International arrivals (1,498,709) were about 2% above 2019's 1,469,475, while Malaysian arrivals were about 84% of their 2019 level (Sabah Tourism Board). Receipts were RM8.74 billion.

On the Department of Statistics’ most recent regional tourism account, covering 2024, tourism industries employed 387,600 people, mostly in retail trade (44.5%) and accommodation and food services (41.6%), and added RM13.7 billion in value, 12% of Sabah's GDP. That is a measure of economic contribution and is not comparable with the RM8.74 billion of 2025 receipts quoted above. The state is aiming for 4 million arrivals in 2026; from January to August 2026 arrivals were up 4.1% on 2025 (Malay Mail, 20 September 2026).

Policy context: national tourism policy is set by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture's National Tourism Policy 2020–2030. Its executive summary sets six transformation strategies (strengthen governance capacity, create special tourism investment zones, embrace smart tourism, enhance demand sophistication, practise sustainable and responsible tourism, and upskill human capital), supported by 22 strategic actions and 32 tactics; we found no Sabah-specific targets in it, though it names Kota Kinabalu, with Johor Bahru, George Town and Kuching, as a secondary city to brand for urban tourism (NTP executive summary, pp.10–11 and PDF p.34). The 13th Malaysia Plan targets growth in Sabah's services sector, which includes tourism, of 7.1% a year in 2026–2030 (13th Malaysia Plan, Appendix Table 5). Status as of September 2026: this is a plan target, not a result. See the economy page.

Top Source Markets

Sabah Tourism Board publishes arrivals by nationality for about 40 countries and groupings. The top ten account for 91.7% of international arrivals and China alone for 43.9%, so the market is considerably more concentrated than the length of the list suggests. China grew 45% in 2025, from 453,600 to 657,528 arrivals.

Visitor Type Breakdown

Sabah’s tourism is split between domestic visitors (2,295,000, or 60.5%) and international visitors (1,498,709, or 39.5%). On spending, DOSM's satellite account measures something different: in 2024 visitors from outside Sabah ("inbound": international 49.1%, Peninsular Malaysia 40.6%, Sarawak 10.3%) made up 51.1% of tourism consumption in Sabah, and Sabah residents travelling within the state 48.9%; see tourism revenue.

Sabah Tourism Board records arrivals by nationality rather than by home state, so no official breakdown of where Malaysian visitors travel from is published. Domestic visitors tend to come for leisure, to visit family, or for short holidays over weekends and school breaks. No official split of international visitors by purpose of visit is published either.

Seasonal Patterns

Sabah’s tourism follows clear seasonal patterns driven by school holidays, weather and regional events — though not quite the ones usually described. December is the single busiest month of the year, well ahead of any other, on year-end and school holidays.

July, August and September are the other busy months. September is the surprise: it is busier than both July and August, largely on domestic travel.

April and May are the quietest months, followed by a second dip in October and November. January and February sit mid-table rather than at the bottom, so the common advice to treat them as Sabah's low season does not match the arrival counts.

Hotel Occupancy

Tourism Malaysia puts average hotel occupancy in Sabah at 51.6% in 2024, the most recent complete year, and 54.4% for January to September 2025. Sabah has run below the Malaysian average every year since 2021. Kota Kinabalu on its own was a little higher, at 58.5% over the same nine months. Tourism Malaysia also counts 540 hotels with 27,208 rooms in Sabah for 2024; wider counts of 685 to 691 properties circulate because they include lodges and budget premises that sit outside its ten-room survey frame. See our hotels page for the detail.

Occupancy has improved each year since 2023 — 49.0%, then 51.6%, then 54.4% across the first nine months of 2025 — but remains below both the national average and Sabah's own 65.8% in 2019, when it led the national figure. No revenue-per-room or segment-level series is published for Sabah.

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