F1 race in Malaysia: Country eyes a rise in tourists, increased business for small traders

KUALA LUMPUR – With two months to go before the Bahrain Grand Prix flags off at Sepang, Selangor, on Oct 4, Malaysia is seeking to wring as much economic value as it can from the relocated Formula One race.

It is eyeing a rise in hotel bookings, additional flights and increased business for small traders around the circuit.

Tourism Selangor chief executive Chua Yee Ling told The Straits Times that the October Formula One race presented a major opportunity for the state, with increased spending expected across hotels, restaurants, retail outlets, transport services and local attractions.

She said the state tourism agency was working with industry partners to promote travel packages combining the race with nature, cultural, culinary, shopping and family-oriented experiences across Selangor.

“Our goal is to encourage visitors to extend their stay and explore more of the state, creating lasting economic benefits for local communities and businesses,” she said.

The Grand Prix will also provide a boost to the Visit Malaysia 2026 campaign, under which the country is targeting 47 million tourist arrivals and RM329 billion (S$103 billion) in tourism receipts.

Chosen to replace the Bahrain race

Malaysia, which last hosted a Formula One Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit in 2017, was chosen to replace Bahrain in October, as war in the Persian Gulf made holding the race there untenable.

Within hours of the announcement on July 26, hotels near the circuit were fully booked for the F1 weekend. Homestay operators across Sepang also reported a surge in enquiries from Malaysians and overseas visitors looking for accommodation during race week.

This was despite a spike in hotel room prices. At Tune Hotel, near the circuit, for instance, room prices have surged from RM155 to over RM750 per night on the race weekend.

“I received messages enquiring about my rental property the day after the announcement,” said Rashid Huzaimi, 43, a homestay operator in Salak Tinggi. “One prospective client from the UK asked how convenient it was to get from here to the circuit.”

Although the Sepang circuit is around 60km from Kuala Lumpur city centre, it sits just minutes from Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Some chauffeurs and private transport operators have already received bookings for October.

“I was booked by a man from Germany travelling with a group of four,” chauffeur Terry Chin told ST.

Chin, who frequently drives foreign business travellers around Malaysia, said his client planned to extend the trip and visit islands off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

“I am sorted for the month,” he quipped.

Both Rashid and Chin described the event as a sudden bonus for their businesses. Neither of them has increased prices yet. Chin said the booking he got was made well in advance and could not justify a price hike.

Bahrain gets ticket sales, Malaysia aims for spending outside circuit

Although the race will be held in Malaysia, it remains the Bahrain Grand Prix, with the Middle Eastern kingdom retaining the naming and commercial rights while footing the bill for the event.

That includes the power to set ticket prices and retain the proceeds from their sale, leaving Malaysia to profit largely from spending generated outside the circuit.

This arrangement works out well for Malaysia, which has to spend only up to RM16 million to upgrade its facilities.

The country scrapped the race in 2017 due to the high costs and low returns. At that time, the government said it spent RM300 million a year to host the race, but by 2016, spectator numbers had dwindled to 45,000, filling up just over a third of the circuit’s capacity.

The return of Formula One to Sepang is also considerably bigger and broader in appeal than the event Malaysia last hosted.

Once marketed predominantly as a motor race, Formula One has increasingly become a global entertainment spectacle.

This is helped by the success of the Netflix series Drive to Survive, which presented its drivers and team principals as characters in a reality television show.

Formula One’s estimated global fanbase grew from 506 million in 2018 to 827 million in 2025, while total attendance across the season reached a record 6.7 million.

The audience has also become younger and more diverse, with those under 35 accounting for 43 per cent of the fanbase and women making up 42 per cent.

Oh Ei Sun, Senior Fellow at Singapore Institute of International Affairs, said that with the Singapore Grand Prix just one week apart from the Sepang race, the economic spillover can be experienced in both countries. The Singapore race is set for Oct 9 to 11.

“Those F1 fans will indeed do a circuit, first Malaysia then Singapore,” Oh told ST.

Malaysian fans excited to see Formula One race at Sepang

For newer fans who have never had the chance to watch Formula One at Sepang, the October race offers a long-awaited opportunity to see the sport in person.

“I started watching Drive to Survive because my then boyfriend was watching it,” said Angel Wan, a 27-year-old communications executive in Kuala Lumpur.

She has since become a big fan of Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton and hopes to secure a paddock pass for the chance to meet him.

But while the Grand Prix remains an event associated with the wealthy, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has pledged to spread its economic benefits to small traders, instructing the circuit operator to establish “hundreds of stalls” around the Sepang circuit during race week.

Speaking on July 29, Anwar said that although hotels were fully booked, attention should also be given to low-income earners rather than only to “big, expensive restaurants”.

“I want to arrange hundreds of stalls around that circuit. Hundreds of stalls, so that low-income people can do business and earn a living,” he said.