Year of Visiting Malaysia, Welcoming Chinese and Indian Tourists

15-day visa-free stay ...This year too, the Passport Act Enforcement Decree amended

Online travel information registration required

[Asia Economy Kuala Lumpur, Guest Reporter Hong Seong-a] The Malaysian government is promoting tourism from China and India in celebration of the Visit Malaysia Year 2020.

According to Malaysian media on the 7th (local time), the local authorities amended the Passport Act Enforcement Decree to allow Chinese and Indian tourists to stay in the country visa-free for 15 days starting from January this year. The decree was signed by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed.

Visa-free stay is possible only after registering in the Online Travel Registration Information System. The Online Travel Registration Information System is a system that allows tourists to easily obtain a visa via the internet, and tourists can stay for up to 15 days. Also, if re-entering after 45 days from departure, they can stay again for 15 days. However, entry is only allowed through designated airports and border checkpoints, and travelers must carry a return ticket, credit card, and cash.

Until now, Chinese and Indian tourists had to obtain a visa to stay in Malaysia. China and India are among the top 10 countries by number of visitors to Malaysia, but unlike the other eight countries, they had to obtain a visa to enter. However, with the goal of attracting 30 million tourists this year, Malaysia has significantly lowered the entry barriers.

According to data released by the Malaysia Tourism Board, about 20 million foreign tourists visited Malaysia until September last year, a 3.7% increase compared to the same period the previous year. Up to the third quarter of last year, the largest number of foreign tourists visiting Malaysia were from Singapore with 7.86 million, followed by Indonesia (2.79 million), China (2.41 million), Thailand (1.44 million), Brunei (920,000), and India (530,000). Korean tourists numbered 500,000 last year.

Malaysia's tourism revenue last year was 66.14 billion ringgit (approximately 18.7 trillion KRW), a 6.9% increase from 61.85 billion ringgit (approximately 17.5 trillion KRW) the previous year. The country that spent the most on tourism was Singapore, with about 4.6 trillion KRW, followed by China with 3.6 trillion KRW. Indonesia and Thailand spent 8.8 billion ringgit (about 2.4 trillion KRW) and 2.8 billion ringgit (about 790 billion KRW), respectively. The Malaysian government announced plans to attract 3.26 million Chinese tourists and 680,000 Indian tourists out of the 30 million foreign tourists this year.

The first Visit Malaysia Year was declared in 1990, attracting 7.4 million tourists at that time. The second Visit Malaysia Year was in 1994, attracting 10.22 million tourists, and the third Visit Malaysia Year in 2007, which coincided with the 50th anniversary of Malaysia's independence, attracted 20.97 million tourists. In 2014, Malaysia attracted 28 million tourists. Kuala Lumpur, Guest Reporter Hong Seong-a sungah@asiae.co.kr

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.