Remove visa requirements for visitors from China to boost economy, urge the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel (Matta).

Its president Hamzah Rahmat, pledging full support to Tourism and Culture Minister Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz’s urging to “woo back China tourists”, said that Malaysia must shift to a higher gear to catch up with the neighbouring countries.

“Next year, many China tourists will be heading to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, where visas are exempted or fees waived.

“We can give these countries a run for their money if our cabinet responds to the current situation,” Hamzah explained in a statement today.

Hamzah illustrated that total arrivals, excluding China tourists, had actually increased by 12.2 percent thanks to the Visit Malaysia Year 2014 programme. However, there is a 11.9 percent drop from China, which had reduced the overall growth to 10.3 percent.

“If arrival figures remain the same for the rest of the year, we will be getting only 1.7 million tourists from China. There would be 2.1 million arrivals if their numbers are increased by 12.2 percent over 2013.

“The difference of 471, 680 visitors would impact our economy by several billion ringgit,” he said.

Last year, Thailand leapfrogged Malaysia with an increase of tourists from 22.4 million to 26.5 million, a growth of 18.8 percent, while Malaysia only registered a 2.7 percent increase, from 25 million to 25.7 million.

“Clearly, the removal of visas will boost the number of visitors and imposing them would deter tourists,” Hamzah pointed out.

Matta vice-president of inbound Tan Kok Liang, who had been campaigning to shore up inbound tourism since March after the MH370 plane tragedy, urged Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to consider Mohamed Nazri’s ( right ) request.

“We need closure and respectfully request the prime minister to consider favourably Mohamed Nazri’s request to remove visa requirements for China visitors.

“Apart from Singapore and Indonesia, the largest number of tourists to Malaysia comes from China. Their arrivals are very important to our economy and they spread billions to our hotels, restaurants, shops, entertainment centres and transportation services,” Tan said.

Similarly, the group’s Sabah chapter chairperson, Robert Chong, said that with direct flights from China into Sabah and if tourists are allowed short stays without having to apply for visas, the latter’s tourism would recover next year.