China is expected to allow Malaysians 15 days’ of visa-free travel there starting next month, while China’s citizens are expected to be allowed 30 days’ visa-free entry to Malaysia, a report citing a Cabinet source has said.
In an exclusive report by local daily Sin Chew Daily which cited the Cabinet source, China’s granting of the 15-day visa-free travel period to Malaysians is expected to be announced in the near future.
The source reportedly said Malaysia’s granting of the 30-day visa-free entry to China’s travellers is aimed at helping Malaysia achieve its target of getting 25 million international tourists.
Sin Chew cited the source as saying that China has 120 million persons who could afford to travel abroad, and that Malaysia’s government is aiming to have the tourism industry fully recover to pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels and to have it become the country’s second-highest contributor by the year 2025.
Separately, China’s English-language newspaper China Daily reported that Malaysia is among six countries to be given visa-free entry in the next 12 months.
China Daily cited China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning as announcing today that the country will offer visa-free entry to travellers bearing ordinary passports from Malaysia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain from December 1 this year to November 30 next year.
She was reported saying that citizens from these countries will be able to enter and stay in China without a visa for a maximum of 15 days for the purposes of business, tourism, visiting family and for transit.
Malaysia’s tourist arrivals had been above 25 million individuals every year during the 2012 to 2019 period, with the highest being 27.44 million in 2014, based on Tourism Malaysia’s figures.
But after recording 26.1 million tourist arrivals in 2019, Malaysia’s tourism took a hit during the Covid-19 pandemic years, with just 4.33 million in 2020, 0.13 million in 2021, and 10.07 million tourists in 2022, Tourism Malaysia’s figures show.
Malay Mail’s checks of Tourism Malaysia figures also show China being the third-highest contributor of international tourists to Malaysia in 2019 at over 3.11 million visitors, behind Singapore (10.16 million) and Indonesia (3.6 million).
Out of the RM86.1 billion tourist receipts recorded by Malaysia in 2019, China’s 3.11 million tourists contributed RM15.3 billion in tourism spending. This would translate to RM4,921 per capita spending or average spending per traveller from China.
The average stay of tourists from China in Malaysia in 2019 is 6.4 nights, Tourism Malaysia’s figures show.
Previously in written parliamentary replies on June 7, the Home Ministry said Malaysia did not plan to exempt tourists from China and India from having visas, and that those two countries also impose visa requirements on Malaysians who travel there.
The Home Ministry had also on the same day in a written parliamentary reply said Visa On Arrival (VOA) is provided only to tourists from China and India who come in through a third country namely Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Brunei.
The Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry had also on June 7 said in a written parliamentary reply that this Single Entry Visa provided to those tourists from China and India — via a third country (Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Brunei) allows them to remain in Malaysia for a maximum 15 days via 13 entry and exit points in the country. — Malay Mail
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