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Malaysia welcomes Chi­nese tourists back in droves af­ter pan­dem­ic slump

Kuala Lumpur targets record 5 million Chinese visitors in 2024 as it hopes to accelerate post-pandemic recovery.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Chinese tourists are returning to Malaysia en masse after the COVID-19 pandemic slump, industry figures say, amid expectations arrivals could reach pre-pandemic levels this year following the introduction of visa-free entry.

Mint Leong, president of the Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association, estimated that arrivals rose by about one-third year-on-year in January to some 60,000, followed by a 50 percent rise in February to some 120,000.

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“Chinese New Year will be the best arrivals post-COVID-19,” Leong told Al Jazeera.

Leong said she expects Chinese arrivals to reach 3.5-4.5 million this year, with the average tourist spending 5,000-6,000 Malaysian ringgits ($1,000-$1,200) during their trip.

Before the pandemic, China was the third-largest source of tourists after Singapore and Indonesia, sending 3.1 million visitors in 2019.

The Malaysian government has set a target of 5 million Chinese visitors in 2024, hoping to deliver a jolt to the post-pandemic recovery of Southeast Asia’s fifth-largest economy.

Malaysia’s economy grew 3.7 percent in 2023, missing official targets and lagging behind regional neighbours such as Indonesia and the Philippines.

In December, Kuala Lumpur introduced visa-free entry for Chinese citizens, allowing visitors to stay in the country for up to 30 days for travel and leisure purposes.

The move added Malaysia to the list of 88 countries and territories that Chinese travellers, whose passport ranks 62nd on the Henley Passport Index for ease of travel, can visit without needing to apply for a visa.

“The visa-free deal will definitely boost Chinese tourist arrivals in Malaysia to aid stronger tourism and related services growth,” Lee Heng  Guie, an economist and executive director of the Kuala Lumpur-based Socio Economic Research Center (SERC), told Al Jazeera.

“I expect the number to recover back to pre-pandemic levels this year,” Lee said.

In Kuala Lumpur, hoteliers have reported a noticeable uptick in Chinese bookings during the Lunar New Year period and expressed optimism that their numbers will remain strong throughout the year.

Gregory Gubiani, general manager at the five-star Westin Kuala Lumpur, which is popular with Chinese tourists due to its location in the busy Bukit Bintang shopping district, said Chinese arrivals doubled in January 2024 compared with last year.

“There was a high influx of mainland Chinese here at The Westin Kuala Lumpur and its vicinity recently during the Lunar New Year period,” Gubiani told Al Jazeera, explaining that guests typically stayed 2-3 nights at about 600 ringgit ($127) per room per night.

Gubiani said that although bookings had yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels, the visa-free entry policy would contribute to the “upward trend.”

EQ, another 5-star hotel in the city centre popular with Chinese travellers, also experienced a surge in Chinese arrivals during the Lunar New Year period.

“These numbers are forecasted to remain steady and grow throughout the year. Increased flights from regional centres and larger capacity aeroplanes also play a part in the increasing number of arrivals,” EQ’s general manager Gerard Walker told Al Jazeera.

“The increased number of flights per day in the January to March period also point to Malaysia being an attractive travel prospect, or alternative destination to other, more crowded Southeast Asian destinations.”

Walker said his hotel’s “dynamic mix of guests” includes Chinese coming to Malaysia for luxury shopping and golf, and business guests coming for high-level business meetings.

“The stays are usually part of onward travel to other destinations in Southeast Asia, as part of a longer holiday,” he said.

“Our exchange rate, the cost of dining, the high-value experiences and outstanding appeal of hotels like EQ, makes Malaysia a positive alternative to other overcrowded destinations such as Bangkok.”

Yeah Kim Leng, an economics professor at Sunway University, said that China’s huge middle-class population should be able to sustain the influx into Malaysia despite slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy amid weak consumption, a shrinking population and a property market slump.

“Although a significant number of the middle class have been negatively affected by the slowing economy and property market distress, the sizeable middle-class population coupled with high savings rate will likely sustain China’s outbound tourism that has been eagerly awaited by Malaysia and other countries in the region,” Yeah told Al Jazeera.

Yeah said the scale of outbound travel from China would depend on Beijing’s willingness to provide fiscal support and undertake reforms to encourage a shift away from investment-driven growth towards a consumption-led model.

Malaya’s tourism sector was worth an estimated 251.5 billion ringgit ($53bn), or 14 percent of the gross domestic product in 2022, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia.

Total tourism spending amounted to 92.7 billion ringgit ($19.6bn), of which 33.4 billion ringgit ($7bn), or 36.1 percent, came from foreign tourists.

While China accounted for the third-largest number of tourists, Chinese visitors’ average spending was among the highest for foreign visitors.

Chinese tourists spent an average of 661-768 ringgit ($140-$162) per day in Malaysia between 2017 and 2019, 19 to 72 percent higher than the average tourist, according to research by Hong Leong Investment Bank Research

“Hence, the expected boost in their numbers due to the visa-free initiative could have a significant impact on tourism spending in the country,” Yeah said.

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Established in 1993, Pearl Holiday (M)Travel & Tour Sdn Bhd is a Travel Operator licensed by Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism Malaysia with Inbound, Outbound and Ticketing qualifi- cations.

The headquarter is located in Selangor, Kajang, and we have 3 branches in Kuala Lumpur, Puchong, and East Malaysia Kota Kinabalu. With over 120 passion- ate and professional work teams and many more experienced tour guide, team leader and special team, Pearl Holiday ensure every traveler to enjoy every journey with a peace of mind.

Established in 1993, Pearl Holiday(M)Travel & Tour Sdn Bhd is a Travel Operator licensed by Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism Malaysia with Inbound, Outbound and Ticketing qualifications.

The headquarter is located in Selangor, Kajang, and we have 3 branches in Kuala Lumpur, Puchong, and East Malaysia Kota Kinabalu. With over 120 passionate and professional work teams and many more experienced tour guide, team leader and special team, Pearl Holiday ensure every traveler to enjoy every journey with a peace of mind.

The company's core business covers a variety of outbound, inbound, domestic, educational travel services, providing travel packages, hotel accommodation, transportation services, ticketing services and so on. Pearl Holiday is active member of Malaysia Tourism and Travel Association (MATTA), International Air Transport Association (IATA), Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association (MCTA), Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association (MITA), as well as Malaysia - China Chamber of Commerce (MCCC).

Pearl Holiday have fabulous travel packages to China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Europe, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and other countries and specialize in cruises. With rich tour arrangement experience and worldwide partnership, Pearl Holiday’s outbound department had successfully organized or co-organized international tourism activities for many international, small and medium-sized corporate or associations such as: business inspection tour, special incentive tours, different kinds of conferences and exhibitions, international competitions and other activities.

At the meantime, Pearl Holiday’s Inbound Department organizes series tours, business tour, incentive tours, in-depth tours, leisure vacations, driving tours, conferences and exhibitions, golf vacations, leisure travel, etc. Pearl Holiday mainly handles inbound tour groups from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia and Philippines.

We have a fleet of 30 comfortable luxury coaches, and has a professional coach repair center as a backup to ensure timely and routine bus repair and maintenance to achieve safe, efficient transportation services.

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Malaysian Inbound Chinese Association is a registered non-government and non-profit organisation under the registrar of Society of Malaysia. The Society was established on 21st July 2016 in Kuala Lumpur with a state branch in Sabah.

The main objective of the Association is to assist and gather all tour operators and tourism related industry members who are dealing with tourists mainly from the Chinese speaking communities to develop Malaysia inbound tourism by fostering ties with the Chambers of Commerce, Mercantile and Public Bodies, Government Departments in the country, International Air Transport Association (IATA) and various foreign and local associations and corporations.

We are actively promoting Malaysia Inbound tourism to the Chinese market globally, with major focus on China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Some of the tourism products that we’re putting effort to promote are the Edu-Tourism, Medi-Tourism, Econ-Tourism, Sports-Tourism, Agro-Tourism and other niche tourism products

VISION: To promote a healthy business culture. MISSION: To foster a prosperous, harmonious and progressive society.

The aims and objects of the Society shall be as follows:

• To provide members a platform for exchanging information pertaining to Inbound tourism industry with a view to foster and develop mutual business cooperation amongst them;
• To promote, encourage and assist in the development of the inbound tourism industry in Malaysia;
• To protect and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the members and to provide consultation to members where necessary;
• To promote interaction, cooperation and development in the Inbound tourism industry and tourism in Malaysia; and
• To promote a healthy business culture and to foster a prosperous, harmonious and progressive society.

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Malaysia pushes for expanded visa-on-arrival facility

Malaysia’s tourism, arts and culture minister, Tiong King Sing, recently called on the Home Ministry to look into expanding visa-on-arrival (VOA) for all countries in order to remain competitive with other regional and global destinations.

This includes Malaysia’s traditional top two medium-haul inbound destinations, China and India.

Supporting the minister’s call to introduce VOA facilities, Christina Toh, president of Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH), shared: “It is crucial for us to draw more visitors into the country with easier access and welcoming procedures especially now at the time when tourism industry worldwide seems to be experiencing a universal reset that resulted in a more level playing field for all destinations.”

She explained that the current strict visa requirements have deterred many potential travellers from visiting Malaysia, adding that although it is important to maintain the country’s immigration policies, there is also a need “to adapt them to favourable market trends so as to not lose out on great opportunities”.

In addition, with China having reopened its borders, the industry is anticipating “a large influx in tourism and Malaysia stands to lose a lot of potential arrivals” with the existing visa process.

“MAH hopes that by giving visitors this option, it will encourage more arrivals into the country by eliminating the cost and difficulties that comes with visa applications,” said Toh.

Mint Leong, deputy president, Malaysia Inbound Tourism Association, is also in agreement, saying that it is “a great strategy to speed up tourism recovery” and one that will improve the country’s economy.

If implemented, there would be a spike in tourism arrivals; Malaysia’s “airports and tourism players have the resources to handle this”, said Leong.

Outbound operator Suka Travel & Tours’ director, Adam Kamal, noted that if the VOA takes effect, it may result in other countries reciprocating, thus allowing “Malaysians to have the same facility to enter their countries.

He added: “This will (then) help boost outbound travel to those countries.”

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