Sin Chew Daily reported that the “processing fee” for tourists from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was increased from RMB120 to RMB400.
Commenting on the issue, Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board Chairman Wee Choo Keong said he was worried that the high “processing fee” would negate the benefits of the visa free concession and result in Chinese tourists giving the country a miss.
Wee said “visa free” should mean that there is nothing to be processed and told Sin Chew Daily, “It’s a visa free policy but tourists need to pay a processing fee. Malaysia has become the laughing stock to the world.”
“Once we lose these Chinese tourists, who are loyal and visit Malaysia, it will be hard to get them to come back for a visit.”
“I have received many complaints from the Chinese authorities and tour agents about the charging of ‘processing fees’ by Ultra Kinrana Sdn Bhd. They have alleged we are insincere in implementing the visa free policy,” Wee said, urging the government and Immigration Department to rethink the move.
“Why does Ultra Kinrana Sdn Bhd, which operates the Visa One Stop Centre, want to collect the ‘administration fee’ as a reason to charge the processing fee?
“The economy is not doing well and the tourism industry is our saviour.
“When the Prime Minister announced the abolition of the visa free, we did not require a visa centre to handle anything. The old method of visas and processing fees should have been done away with.”
Wee pointed out that under the “30-day visa free” policy for Taiwanese tourists, there was no extra payment for administration or processing fees.
“It is simple. There is no so-called one stop visa centre there (Taiwan),” he said, pointing out that tourists from mainland China should be given the same treatment.
Wee argued that Taiwanese tourists did not need to register themselves before entering Malaysia, unlike the Chinese. “Chinese tourists from PRC say they have to register themselves through a website and have to pay RM81 for the processing.”
He said Malaysia should learn from Indonesia which successfully implemented its “visa free” policy in June last year and recorded one million Chinese entering their country till December, a 40 per cent increase.
“We only had 1.9 million Chinese visitors from PRC for the whole of 2015.”
Wee said Chinese tourists wanted to visit Malaysia because there was no communication problem as many Malaysians spoke Mandarin or other dialects.
“We have delicious food, beautiful beaches and hills. Our shopping mall facilities are better than Indonesia’s. Things are also cheaper here.
“So we need to go all out to woo them back to Malaysia.”