Malaysia to launch new visa scheme to attract more Indian tourists from April

Malaysia is all set introduce a new visa scheme to attract more tourists from India from 1 April 2017.

Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, Malaysia’s Tourism and Culture Minister, said under the new scheme, Indian tourists need only pay $20 for a 15-day trip. He said that Indians would be issued visas within 48 hours from 1 April. Nazri said that this would be announced by Malaysian Prime Minister during his official trip to India in April.

He held the view that e-visa application fees Indians were charged was dissuading them from visiting this Southeast Asian country.

He was quoted by The Star Online as saying that the company handling the e-visa applications of Indians was charging an additional $61 (RM270) per application in addition to the $24.5 (RM108) paid to the governments of Malaysia and India.

Nazri added that Indian tourists could visit Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam visa-free. He felt that reduction in the number of flights to India by Malaysia Airlines was also one of the factors leading to the decline in the number of Indian tourists visiting Malaysia.

He said he was not sure if Malaysia Airlines was operating flights daily or twice to Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi.

On the contrary, Thai Airways was operating regular flights to India owing to which Thailand was able to draw around 1.2 million to 1.3 million Indian tourists, he added.

Nazri said 2.83 million tourists from India visited Malaysia between 2012 and 2015, while India received 976,000 Malaysian tourists.

But the number of tourists from India declined to 638,578 in 2016 from 722,141 in 2015, he stated.

Nazri stated that he was currently talking to Malindo Air and AirAsia to increase more flights between Malaysia and India.

If you are looking to travel to Malaysia, contact Y-Axis, a prominent immigration consultancy company, to apply for a tourist visa from one of its several global offices.