KL to ease travel ruling to lure more tourists from China, India
KL to ease travel ruling to lure more tourists from China, India
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia will ease travel regulations to woo more tourists from China and India to counter the US economic slowdown, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Monday.
"We do not get that many tourists from America. America might go into a recession but that's not going to affect us very much," Mahathir told reporters after opening a Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) conference.
"We hope to make up for it by encouraging regional tourism and there is a big growth there -- in the case of India last year, there was 200 percent growth, the same with China.
"There is still a huge number of Indians, there are about one billion of them and 1.3 billion of Chinese, so plenty of opportunities for us."
Mahathir said Malaysia has sought more landing rights in India.
"All the flights are full... if we have more seats, there will be more Indians coming here and there will also be more Malaysians going there."
The premier said the government was aware of various problems faced by tourists from China and India, such as strict visa requirements and the need to have return tickets.
"We are attending to all these problems. We are making it easier for them to make multiple entries (visa) for longer stays," he said.
Mahathir said Malaysia previously allowed Chinese tourists to travel here in groups only.
"But now because the Chinese are more affluent, they want to come on their own, so individuals can now come."
Asked if religion and cultural sensitivities in Malaysia would hamper tourism, Mahathir said only a small minority of people had extreme views about religion and culture.
"By and large, Malaysians are very tolerant people. We have been living in a multicultural society for such a long time that we have learnt to put up with people of all races," he said.
He said the tourism industry, Malaysia's second largest foreign exchange earner after manufacturing, was growing rapidly with two million arrivals in the first two months this year.
Earlier in a speech, Mahathir said the sector earned 4.95 billion dollars in tourism receipts last year from a record 10.22 million arrivals -- third highest in the region after China and Hong Kong.
This was up from 7.93 million arrivals and 3.24 billion dollars in tourism receipts in 1999, he said.
About 1,500 delegates from 55 countries are attending the five-day PATA annual conference.