NUSAJAYA: The state government hopes to lure more tourists especially those from East Asian countries to Johor by easing the visa on arrival (VOA) application period.
State Tourism, Trade and Consumerism committee chairman Datuk Tee Siew Kiong said that the previous five working days application now has been shortened to only 15 minutes.
“Our statistic shows that from Nov 1 until Dec 31 last year, we have recorded about 255 tourists who got their VOA approved.
“From the statistic, about 196 were those from China while 59 tourists were from India,” he said adding that the state government hoped to see an increase among tourists from China with the shortened VOA waiting period.
Tee said during a press conference held at Bangunan Datuk Jaafar in Kota Iskandar, on Jan 6.
He said that about 75% of the 100mil tourists from China were expected to visit South-East Asian countries this year.
In a separate matter, Tee also announced that the annual Chingay parade for this year would be held on Mar 11.
“We expect to attract some 200,000 visitors including foreign tourists to attend the yearly parade.
“This is the first time that the Chingay parade will be part of the Malaysia Year of Festival (MyFEST 2015) calendar,” he said.
Tee added that for this year, the organisers planned to set up an open space area in front of Dewan Jubli Intan here, which was able to accommodate some 500 people to watch the parade. He also said that despite the on-going works at Sungai Segget, the parade would still be passing through Jalan Wong Ah Fook.
“We also set up a technical team with the help from Johor Baru City Council as well as the police to assist in easing the traffic along the parade route for that night.
“Besides that, we are also liaising with travel agencies to promote our Chingay parade festival to attract more tourists especially those from other countries,” he added.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Get 20% OFF The Star Digital Access
Cancel anytime. Ad-free. Unlimited access with perks.
