Greater flexibility needed on visas – MATTA
KOTA KINABALU: The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) welcomes the latest announcement by the Home Ministry on the waiver of the visa fees from February 15, 2015.
MATTA Vice President for Inbound Datuk Tan Kok Liang said the country had taken an important step in the right direction to lure more Chinese tourists and hopefully in due course, the government would grant direct Visa On Arrival (VoA) which could boost visitor arrivals overnight.
Although it is too late to cash in on the huge exodus of Chinese tourists during the lunar New Year holidays, nevertheless the announcement was a timely Ang Pow by the Malaysian government and is bound to generate a groundswell of goodwill in China, he said in a statement yesterday.
However, Tan said the crux of the issue is most China nationals do not plan their travel well in advance and are easily hindered by visa requirements. Moreover, they are also spoilt for choice as regional destinations are more flexible on visas.
“If we do not wish to overtake our ASEAN neighbours by granting visa exemption, then we should at least match them in order to be competitive,” he said.
Currently, VoA facilities are available to facilitate China and India nationals through air entry points at Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor Bharu, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu entering Malaysia through a third country and paying USD100 for a maximum seven days stay.
“Extending VoA facilities to leverage on the influx of tourists from Singapore and Thailand is a good strategy but we should look beyond this to boost arrivals.
“We should extend the current VoA facility for direct entry from China or India and extending the stay to 14 days,” Tan proposed.
Such VoA facility is allowed by five ASEAN countries with Brunei offering 14 days, Thailand 15 days and Cambodia, Laos and Indonesia 30 days.
"Malaysia could also join Myanmar and Singapore by allowing visa application online and their eVisas are valid for 28 days and 30 days respectively,” he said.
Moving forward, Tan suggested the Home Ministry can also grant visa exemption for tourists arriving here by chartered flights as the operators would ensure their departure.
Tourism experts have long known that easing visa requirements would induce airlines to increase scheduled f lights and frequencies. For example, the seat capacity out of China to Singapore is 53% and Thailand 87% higher than to Malaysia.
“Malaysia could give other countries a run for the money if our government levels the playing field as local tour operators are eager to contribute to achieving 29.4 million visitor arrivals for this year.
“As such, issues such as visas should have been discussed in a gathering of all relevant stakeholders from both the public and private sectors i nstead of debating through the media over the past few months,” Tan said.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA), Sabah Chapter also hails the government decision to give Visa Fee free (VFF) which took effect yesterday.
Chapter Chairman Robert Chong thanks Home Minister Dato Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for granting VFF and welcomes the news as a gift to the tourism industry players in Sabah.
Although it is already too late to cash in on the huge exodus of Chinese tourist, nevertheless he said the announcement serves as a timely ‘Ang Pow’ for China nationals by the Malaysian government.
As tourism industry is very important to Sabah, Robert believes the government decision to waive the visa fee will help to boost Chinese tourists arrival into Sabah.
Compared to last year Chinese New Year, there were 50 chartered flights from China but this year, there are 10 chartered flights only. Last year Sabah recorded 304,000 visitors from China compared to 360,000 in 2013.
“The tourism players in Sabah generally hope that the government would one day grant visa exemption to the Chinese nationals. If this happen, it will be a huge boost to the industry and our members,” said Robert.