KUALA LUMPUR, 28 November 2023: Malaysia will grant visa-free entry to citizens of China and India for stays of up to 30 days starting on 1 December, according to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim Reuters reported on Monday.
His statement followed China’s announcement that signalled Malaysians visiting China would be eligible for a visa-free stay effective 1 December.
Reuters said Anwar made the announcement late on Sunday during a speech at his People’s Justice Party congress, but he did not say for how long the visa exemption would be applicable for Chinese and Indian travellers visiting Malaysia.
China and India are Malaysia’s fourth and fifth-largest source markets, respectively. According to government data, quoted by Reuters, “Malaysia recorded 9.16 million tourist arrivals between January and June this year, with 498,540 from China and 283,885 from India. That compared to 1.5 million arrivals from China and 354,486 from India in 2019, before the pandemic.”
Following Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s announcement allowing citizens of China and India visa-free stays in Malaysia, Trip.com general manager Malaysia Stephane Thong said: “On Saturday, pageviews for flights from Malaysia to China more than doubled compared to the week before.
“That was just after China announced on Friday evening that it would extend visa-free travel to Malaysians entering China. This reciprocal move from Malaysia (to allow Chinese visa-free stays in Malaysia) should spur more travel between both countries.
“As a partner of the Nihao! China campaign to promote travel to China, Trip.com is pleased that it will now be easier for Malaysians to visit China, and vice versa.”
“The campaign we launched on Friday evening offers our Malaysian users discounts and offers for their trips to China has been very well received, and we look forward to helping our users plan their trips with our initiatives, such as our AI-enabled travel assistant TripGenie, as well as the China Travel Guide that gives international visitors tips on information such as payment methods and transport options.”
