Malaysia To Pursue Single Visa Entry For Asean Region
- From: Chim <ChimS1@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2007 04:16:54 -0700
General August 10, 2007 17:32 PM
Malaysia To Pursue Single Visa Entry For Asean Region
From Caroline Jackson
PONTIANAK (West Kalimatan), Aug 10 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is pursuing
for the facilitation of single visa entry among Asean member countries
to boost tourism in the region, which is forecast will receive about
30 percent of the projected 1 billion tourists globally by 2010.
Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said today
tourists coming to Malaysia did not encounter much problems in getting
visas-upon- arrival or for a two-week stay, at present.
"We are pushing for single visa entry for Asean whereby a tourist
visiting a member state will not need to apply for multiple visas
should he or she want to visit other countries in the grouping," he
told Malaysian journalists covering his working visit to meet
Indonesian tourism industry players here.
While here, Adnan held dialogues with the Wakil Governor Kalimantan
Barat Drs Lorencus Herman Kadir, members of the Association of
Indonesian Tour and Travel Agents, airlines representatives and other
stakeholders of the travel industry.
He said the issue had been raised with his counterpart in Singapore
while Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia were keen on the "one
destination, three or four countries" strategy to boost regional
tourism.
Malaysia was also looking at clinching such an agreement with Myanmar,
which did not see eye-to-eye on the matter at present, he said.
However, he said the Association of Asean Tour Agencies (ASTA) had
agreed to pursue the matter to make it more conducive for tourists,
especially long haul ones, to come to this part of the world.
Malaysia being part of the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Phillipines-
East Asian Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA)'s Joint Tourism Development Cluster
program, he said the government would like Malaysia Airlines'
subsidiary, Firefly, to be based in Kuching and Kota Kinabalu to sell
certain circuits, particularly Kuching and Makasar.
On his visit here, Adnan said it was part of Tourism Malaysia's
roadshow to promote the country, which has targeted two million
tourist arrivals this year from Indonesia, the third largest market
after Singapore and Thailand, from 1.2 million last year.
In the first six months of this year, Malaysia recorded 900,000
tourist arrivals from Indonesia, indicating their purchasing power and
big market potential, he said.
Following complaints and feedback that Indonesians coming to Malaysia
were viewed as job seekers, he said, those entering the country as
tourists were now being listed separately from foreign workers by the
immigration authorities at all the entry points.
"We want to promote the country to Indonesian tourists as a value-for-
money destination as well as a safe place," Adnan said, adding that
the industry players should improve the current situation as many
people were coming from Kalimantan Barat to Kuching for medical
facilities and educational tourism.
About 1,000 Indonesians seek medical treatment annually in private
medical centres in Kuching, about 30 minutes by air or eight hours by
road from Pontianak.
Given the huge potential and close cultural ties, particularly between
the Kuching and Pontianak markets, he said another gateway that could
be developed was via Pontianak and Batam to Johor Baharu in the
peninsula.
Up to June, Malaysia had exceeded 60 percent of its projected total
tourist arrivals of 20 million for this year with revenue amounting to
US$11.3 billion (RM38.5 billion), he added.
.
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