Malaysia to waive visa fees for Indian tourists

Many of Malaysia’s tourists come from India, with the government planning to encourage more. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, February 14, 2015.

Malaysia plans to waive the visa fee for high-spending Indians as a strategy to hit the 29.4 million international tourist arrivals this year.

Minister of Tourism and Culture Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said Malaysia needed an additional two million visitors to reach the new record target.

Nazri said Indians had made Malaysia one of their favourite destinations in Asean, with 643,335 tourists arriving for the first 10 months (January-October) last year – a 20.7% growth.

Last year about 1.4 million Indians visited Malaysia and splashed nearly RM1.8 billion between January and September in 2014, compared with RM1.3 billion during the corresponding period in 2013.

India is the fifth largest source of tourists for Malaysia.

Nazri said that waiving the visa fee for Indian tourists was part of Malaysia’s plans to target 29.4 million arrivals from around the globe in 2015.

He said currently, an Indian traveller spends about RM350 to RM400 on visa fees and other related payments.

The minister added that an Indian tourist stays an average of 6.6 days in Malaysia and spends about RM2,900 during the entire visit.

"Indian tourists are big spenders especially when it comes to shopping, like the Chinese tourists.

“We at the ministry are strongly in favour of such a good gesture to be extended to our Indian guests as well," Nazri told Bernama before launching the MyFest 2015 promotion campaign in Mumbai, India’s financial capital yesterday.

Countries like China, South Korea and Japan are already enjoying the no-visa fee privilege.

Nazri said there was vast potential for further growth of the Indian travel trade to Malaysia, as four major airlines planned to increase direct weekly flights to Malaysia.

Currently, there are 156 flights per week connecting Malaysia and key Indian cities, offering nearly 30,000 seats.

The minister said that last year, total arrivals of international tourists stood at 27.4 million and the ministry was actively organising promotion campaigns, not only in India but also other Indian sub-continent countries to promote Malaysia.

"We need to bring at least two million more tourists into the country to meet our target this year, with estimated revenue of RM80 billion or we will lose out to other Asean countries, which already implemented such exemption (visa fee waiver),” he said.

He also said Indians wishing to stay longer in Malaysia could choose the Malaysia's Second Home Programme, where they can stay up to 10 years without visa requirement. – Bernama