KUALA LUMPUR, 28 February 2022: Malaysia and Thailand took the first steps towards fully reopening borders to tourism last week when they agreed to implement air, land and sea vaccination travel lanes to reboot tourism.
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the related ministries and agencies of the two countries would hold discussions to reopen the border soon via Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTL) and Thailand’s Test & Go scheme.
“For a start, we can implement the Air VTL between Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok for travellers who are fully vaccinated. We will also consider adding other destinations in future.”
The VTL scheme will also extend to land borders via Bukit Kayu Hitam-Sadao and all international border checkpoints in the north of the peninsula and southern Thailand and the sea VTL between Langkawi and Satun.
Later in the week, the PM, during a visit to Kuching, Sarawak, noted 5,686 foreign tourists had made use of the Langkawi International Travel Bubble (LITB) to travel to Malaysia since it was introduced last November.
According to STAR online news, the PM said the bubble had generated over MYR28 million in revenue for the Langkawi economy.
Vaccinated Travel Lanes are up and running, linking Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Brunei is in the pipeline, and discussions are on the way to establishing a Malaysia – Thailand VTL. The Brunei VTL will boost Sarawak tourism, especially to Miri, Limbang and Lawas all close to Brunei.
(Source: Bernama, Star)
