Arrangement starts in December, also applies to India and Gulf state travelers
KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia will allow visa-free entry to citizens from China, India and several Middle Eastern countries starting next month in a bid to increase arrivals and boost the economy.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim revealed the plan on Sunday at the closing of his People’s Justice Party (PKR) convention, saying the country will allow citizens from those nations to enter and stay in Malaysia without a visa for “up to 30 days.”
The announcement comes as the trade-oriented economy faces an export slump. Malaysia’s third-quarter gross domestic product grew moderately at 3.3% from a year earlier, but exports declined 12%, weighing on overall growth.
China was among Malaysia’s top sources of tourists leading up to the pandemic, after Singapore and Indonesia, according to the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board. In 2019, the country welcomed 3.11 million Chinese who accounted for 11.9% of all inbound tourists that year.
Other Southeast Asian nations are also trying to bring back the good old days of before COVID, when throngs of Chinese tourists supercharged the regions’ economies. But that is proving difficult as China’s poor economy is preventing many Chinese from traveling abroad.
In the first half of 2023, arrivals to Malaysia reached 9.2 million, 68.6% of the level for the first half of 2019, according to the country’s central bank. Malaysia now expects to welcome 16 million foreign tourists for the full year and is counting on them to spend 50 billion ringgit ($10.7 billion).
Ammar Abdul Ghapar, director-general of Tourism Malaysia, told The Star newspaper that the country received 178,150 Chinese tourists in the first quarter of 2023.
Visa-free entry will also be granted to tourists from Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Iran. Currently, visitors from Jordan and Turkey can enter and remain in the country for up to 30 days without a visa.
Tourists who want to take advantage of the system must first complete a pre-security background check, and Anwar said anyone with a criminal record or who might represent a terrorism or security risk will be denied entry.
Last month, Anwar told parliament that the government would implement a visa liberalization plan to ease travelers’ way into Malaysia.
