With 73% of hotels being occupied on average during the first half of this year, Pahang has the highest hotel occupancy rates in Malaysia.

Leong Yu Man, chairman of the State Unity, Tourism and Culture Committee, ascribed it to Pahang's increased visitor numbers.

She underlined that this achievement shows the state's attractiveness and the reachability of the desired visitor numbers.

“We are targetting 13 million tourists this year, and as of September, Pahang has already hosted 9.04 million domestic and international visitors," she said in a statement on Wednesday.

Leong highlighted that five districts in Pahang, namely Bentong, Kuantan, Cameron Highlands, Temerloh, and Rompin, have witnessed remarkable tourist arrivals.

The two highland tourism destinations in Pahang, namely Genting Highlands and Cameron Highlands as well as Pulau Tioman in Rompin and the city of Kuantan, according to her, remain the focus with the number of recorded tourist arrivals constantly increasing from year to year.

The reported average occupancy rates were calculated based on more than 36,000 registered accommodation rooms in Pahang, sourced from the Strategic Planning Division of Tourism Malaysia.

The data also revealed that Kuala Lumpur secured the second position with an average rate of 57.3%, followed by Putrajaya (54%), Penang (49.2%), Johor (47.5%), and Selangor (47.1%).