Green light given for new visa centre in Xiamen

KUALALUMPUR: The Government has given its approval to set up a visa processing centre in Xiamen, China, said Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the move was aimed at attracting at least one million tourists from Fujian province this year.

“I will ask the Immigration Department and related vendors to operate the visa processing centre.

“But I hope this facility will not be abused. We will not compromise when it comes to the security and the social harmony of the country,” he said when opening the 2nd Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association (Mita) travel fair at Mines Convention and Exhibition Centre here yesterday.

Dr Ahmad Zahid, who is also Home Minister, said stern action would be taken against visa abusers.

He also called on the Tourism and Culture Ministry to offer multilingual classes for tour guides.

“The Government will find ways to fund the courses, as we want our tour guides to learn as many languages as possible.

“We must explore ways to bring in more tourists to Malaysia and promote emerging new markets in Eastern Europe,” he said.

Dr Ahmad Zahid said domestic tourism was expected to draw RM50bil in revenue this year as compared to RM44.2bil last year.

“The Government would like to give RM1mil for Mita fair next year but you have to make good use of the allocation to bring in more than 1,000 exhibitors,” he said.