MATTA keeps fingers crossed for visa fee waiver

The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) has welcomed the government's first step towards waiving visa charges to Chinese tourists, whose numbers took a beating this year.

According to Bernama news agency, minister for tourism and culture, Nazri Aziz, said he would propose the visa fee waiver to the prime minister. “Maybe we can try it next year for tour groups from China who visit Malaysia via travel (consultants),” he was quoted as saying.

MATTA president Hamzah Rahmat, said Nazri’s presentation is a good first move and the visa fee waiver would help boost tourist numbers from China.

The association last month called on the government to provide a short visa exemption period aimed at bringing back Chinese visitors. 

Hamzah added: “However, this initiative should be applied across the board for all foreign tourists visiting Malaysia, in line with UN World Tourism Organization’s call for governments to ease visa restrictions to stimulate travel and promote growth in the tourism sector. Why do we have to charge tourists with visa fees when they are coming here to spend and help the local economy?”

Also looking forward to a visa fee waiver is Winnie Ng, business development manager at Pearl Holiday Travel & Tour. Ng said: “Waiving visa charges to Chinese tourists will help Malaysia compete more effectively with other South-east Asian destinations such as Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia which do not charge a visa fee to Chinese tourists. The inbound market from China is soft so this move will certainly help.

“Year-on-year, our group tours from China are down by 80 per cent and by 50 per cent for FIT.”

The forecast for Chinese arrivals was revised from two million to 1.7 million this year in the aftermath of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which has been missing since March 8. A total of 239 passengers and crew were on board, of which 153 were Chinese nationals. 

-TTG Asia.