The Causality between Tourists Arrival and Economic Growth in Malaysia post Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of several causes affecting tourism around the world. Because it was a once-in-a-generation occurrence, the pandemic affected both the developing and developed worlds. This paper explores tourism and COVID-19, as well as the causal relationship between the tourism sector and Malaysia's economic progress, based on this understanding. From 1991 to 2020, Eviews version 12.0 will be utilised to collect secondary data for the researcher, with the Unit Root Test, Ordinary Least Squares, and Granger Causality test models being used. Following that, depending on the data collected and analysed, a discussion of the findings will be held, as well as recommendations for further research. Tourism makes a substantial contribution to Malaysia's economic development. Outsiders are drawn to Malaysia because of its unique qualities and physical environment, as well as its distinct neighbourhood cultures. This outstanding performance has sparked the interest of the Malaysian government in promoting tourism as one of the country's National Key Economic Areas (NKEA) in order to transform Malaysia into a high-income country by 2020. This is owing to the fact that high entry rates do not always equate to higher tourism profit rates, as not all visitors are actual tourists. Malaysia has, understandably, had various challenges in attracting genuine visitors as a latecomer to the tourism industry. This emphasises the necessity of researching the role of tourism in Malaysia's economic development as well as the main elements that impact tourists' decisions to visit the country. Malaysia, like many other developed and developing countries, has turned to tourism as a vital industry. Tourism has a strong positive effect, as assessed by tourist arrivals and economic growth, according to this study.