3 days ago
Surge in foreign tourists visiting S'gor in lead-up to VSY 2025
From left: Amirudin and Ng visiting a booth at the Sekinchan Padi Field Festival 2025.
SELANGOR is experiencing a shift in its tourism landscape as international visitors begin to form a larger part of the state's tourist arrivals.
According to state local government and tourism committee chairman Datuk Ng Suee Lim, the ratio of international to domestic tourists was previously 30:70.
'But by 2024, we successfully broke that pattern.
'Now, international tourists make up a larger share of visitors.
'This a positive sign for Selangor's growing global appeal,' he said.
Ng said that while the momentum was encouraging, Sekinchan faced one major hurdle – the lack of four-star hotels for the rising number of higher-spending tourists.
He was speaking to reporters at Sekinchan Padi Field Festival 2025 in the Sabak Bernam district.
The state government had aimed to draw some 13,000 visitors to the two-day event.
Held at Terminal Sekinchan, the festival was the first of its kind in Malaysia and had been held in support of Visit Selangor Year (VSY) 2025.
(From left) Saipolyazan, Ng and Chua answering media queries at the festival.
'This festival was created to let visitors enjoy the beauty of agro-tourism in northern Selangor, a region that produces the most rice in Malaysia and is rich in natural beauty that you can't find in modern cities,' said Ng.
The festival was launched by Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari.
Held from 7am to 7pm over two days, it featured a variety of family-friendly and cultural activities.
Among first day highlights were electric tram and rickshaw tours through padi fields, a food festival, traditional kite (wau kapal) demonstrations, a mini kite decoration competition and a live performance by Malaysian singer-songwriter Aizat Amdan.
The second day offered even more attractions, which included a padi field run, free health screenings and environmental volunteer activities.
The festival was part of the VSY2025 campaign that aimed to draw 8 million visitors and generate RM11.7bil in tourism- related transactions.
To support these goals, the Selangor Budget 2025 has allocated RM8mil for VSY2025 preparations.
These include programming and upgrading tourism facilities across all nine districts.
In the works are over 100 programmes and initiatives covering educational tourism, sports, food and beverage, arts, culture and heritage.
Also present during the festival press conference were Menteri Besar Incorporated chief executive officer Saipolyazan M. Yusop and Tourism Selangor chief executive officer Chua Yee Ling.
