“Don’t miss out Spring Festival opportunity” Frankie Lee: Visa-free for Chinese tourists can’t delay

China Press, December 16, 2015
Exclusive report by Kew Hui Pheng

Kuala Lumpur, Dec 15 – President of Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association (MITA) Frankie S.K. Lee said in the past the number of Chinese tourists visiting Malaysia during the Spring Festival would see an increase of 5%, which made up to about 300,000 to 400, 000. If the government does not implement the visa-free facility measure before the Spring Festival next year, Malaysia would miss out the golden opportunity of influx of Chinese tourists.

“Nowadays Chinese tourists like to come to Malaysia for shopping and enjoy local foods; they are willing to spend money as long as they are happy.”

“Even ordinary Chinese tourists will bring along with them at least RM1, 000 to RM2, 000, they will definitely buy gift for their friends and relatives.”

“The luxury tour groups from China particularly love shopping in Malaysia; they like to buy branded goods and are lavish; when they want to eat something, they will make sure they get their wish fulfilled without caring for the price.”

In an interview with China Press, Frankie S.K. Lee said the devaluation of the Ringgit and the increase in the frequency of flights are the factors contributing to the flocking of Chinese tourists to Malaysia.

Earn foreign exchange for the country

“In normal day a local tourist agent will be receiving an average of ten Chinese tourist groups with 15 to 16 persons per group; however, in December the Chinese tour group has gone up to more than 100, an increase of 10 folds.

“One local tour guide who led Chinese tourists to pewter outlets and local specialty shops has earned RM7, 000 commissions within two to three days. This shows how strong is the Chinese tourists’ purchasing power.”

He urged the government to seize the opportunity to implement the visa-free measure, not only it would benefit the tourism sector in the country, but the government would also be benefitted from the foreign exchange inflows.

Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association (MCTA) deputy president Jackson Thian said many local tour agents dare not accept tour groups from China during the Spring Festival next year due to uncertainty on the visa measure.

“Tour operators are worried that in case the measure is postponed again, they have to make compensation to Chinese tourists, and the hotel bookings, traffic arrangements will also be affected; but some tour agents which rely solely on Chinese tourists have no choice but to accept Chinese tour groups during the Spring Festival.”

Two air mishaps affecting travel industry

China is the main source of tourists to Malaysia, but due to the two air mishaps involving MAS aircraft in 2014, the number of Chinese tourists dropped drastically. In 2014, only 1.4 million Chinese tourists visited Malaysia, a sharp decline of 600, 000 tourists.

The Ministry of Tourism and Culture has tried very hard to get the Cabinet to waive the visa for Chinese tourists. Although government had announced many times about the exemption of visa for Chinese tourists and the effective date was supposed to be in September this year, but several postponements had since been announced, and no further announcement was made until today.

So far visa-free measure for Chinese tourists had been implemented in Europe, Thailand and Indonesia, among them Thailand had received 4 million Chinese tourists, a big increase of 2 million after the implementation of visa-free measure. In this respect Malaysia should learn from Thailand.

While the whole world is making every effort in wooing about 100 million Chinese tourists every year, Malaysia seemed to be very passive; the long awaited visa-free measure so far has borne no result.

Wee Choo Keong urges the government to be far-sighted

Future benefits more important than present interests

Local tourism industry operators opined that Malaysian government should have great foresight; it should not miss out the future potential income of the tourism industry for the sake of small immediate interest.

Tourism Malaysia chairman Wee Choo Keong urged Malaysian government to implement the visa-free facility as soon as possible, the immediate task for the government is to close down the SPPV One Stop Centre which was authorized by the government to collect service fees, and also to abolish the visa fee imposed by Malaysian embassy in China.

He pointed out that SPPV was jointly set up by Ultra Kinrara and Beijing Lingxiang International Entry & Exit Service Co Ltd., at least 1, 500 applications were being processed in each day, the average daily revenue amounting to RMB180, 000.

Doubts on Ultra Kinrara

“Ultra Kinrara was authorized by the government to provide visa processing services in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in China, charging a service fee of RMB120 per head.

“I don’t understand how this company was able to get the authorization from the government? Is the revenue also shared by the government?”

Some also questioned whether the company was a crony protected by the government, or is it the government’s cash cow and that’s why the government is reluctant to let go?

“If the government waives the visa for Chinese tourists, the foreign exchange it gets from the Chinese tourists coming into Malaysia will definitely be more than double the fees it received presently.”

Original Source:
“別錯過春節機會” 李學前：中國免簽證不能再拖