PETALING JAYA: With neighbouring countries snapping at our heels, tourism players want the stakeholders in the industry to further step up or lose out, even as the country registered a 40% increase in arrivals following the recent visa-free move.

The policy to exempt visas for China and India nationals to Malaysia was implemented on Dec 1 last year.

Malaysian Tourism Federation president Datuk Tan Kok Liang said Tourism Malaysia must work in high gear as neighbouring countries have been aggressively promoting their tourism programmes.

“Malaysia has seen a good increase of between 30% and 40% in Chinese and Indian visitors following the visa-free announcement.

“But it’s not enough because our neighbours are even more aggressive in pulling international tourists with promotions and ease of travel.... read more