PUTRAJAYA: The quick approval of visas is one of the reasons why Malaysia is a favoured destination among Chinese tourists, which numbered around 2.6 million last year.
China’s ambassador to Malaysia Bai Tian said he expects the number to increase.
“It is estimated that in five years, 800 million Chinese will go outbound and with the application of visa being made easy with fast approval, I can see more tourists coming here,” he said after a visit to the Immigration Department.
Bai Tian said during Chinese New Year alone, some 200,000 Chinese nationals spent their holidays here.
He observed that the festive mood in cities like Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Penang and Johor Baru were “merrier than some cities in China”.
The ambassador, who visited the eVisa communication centre, was impressed with the facility.
Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said the eVisa and eNTRI programmes were key milestones in efforts to attract Chinese nationals to visit the country.
The eVisa is online visa application while eNTRI is visa waiver scheme which allows tourists from China to stay in Malaysia for a maximum of 15 days.
