‘Causeway congestion to be addressed’
BAYAN LEPAS: The government has drafted short-term measures to ease congestion at the JohorSingapore Causeway due to the immigration system used at the Sultan Iskandar Building Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) Complex.
Deputy Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik yesterday said his ministry was working with the Home Ministry to address the congestion problem, which contributed to the drop in the number of tourists from Singapore.
He said 10.2 million Singapore tourists entered the country last year, campared with 12 million visitors in 2017.
“The CIQ is used for cargo clearance. However, due to conditions imposed by the Home Ministry, that visa-on-arrival (VOA) be processed at the CIQ, congestion happens.”
Bakhtiar said a team from both ministries visited the CIQ recently.
“We will have short-term solutions to ease the congestion.”
He said his ministry had made several proposals on VOA and the Immigration system to the Home Ministry, and was waiting for feedback.
He said this after officiating Matta Fair Penang 2019 here.
Present was Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) president Datuk Tan Kok Liang.
Bakhtiar said Malaysia must be aggressive in promoting tourism as neighbouring countries had upped their game over the recent years.
He said Vietnam was reportedly leading in terms of tourism growth, while Brunei was promoting tourism aggresively too.
However, he said, Malaysia experienced a 0.4 per cent drop in tourism growth last year.
“Ninety-one per cent of the incoming tourists are from Asia, so we must remain resilient and continue to promote tourism.”
Seventy-six tourism-related organisations are taking part in Matta Fair Penang 2019, with 263 exhibition booths on display over the three-day event.
The organiser is expecting 35,000 visitors with a total sales target of RM35 million, up from RM31.6 million in September.