The Malaysian government says it will extend visa exemption for Chinese tourists until the end of 2017, and will expand it to include arrivals from India.
Tourism and culture minister Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz said the visa-free facility for Chinese travellers had helped boost arrivals from China by 26.3% during the first eight months of 2016.
"For 2016, the ministry fixed a target of two million Chinese tourist arrivals after we implemented the visa exemption policy. Based on the positive growth, the government has agreed to extend the visa exemption period to Chinese tourists, to Dec 31, 2017," he said at a media briefing.
China is Malaysia’s third largest foreign source market for tourist arrivals.
"The government has decided to broaden visa exemption to countries that provide a rich source of tourists to Malaysia, like China. Hence, we agreed to give visa exemption to India tourists as well."
