KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 8): The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) is highly supportive of a potential easing of visa requirements for Chinese tourists, as it fears Malaysia will “miss the boat entirely” if it does not do so.

MATTA was referring to a local news report today that said the Cabinet has agreed in principle to ease visa requirements for tourists from China, which will boost tourist arrivals and strengthen bilateral ties between Malaysia and China.

Neighbouring countries like Indonesia has already done so, and MATTA feels it is high time Malaysia followed suit.

“We have already missed out on many opportunities and more would be lost, if we continue dragging our feet. [We] may even miss the boat entirely, as recovery would be difficult once we have sunk too low”, said MATTA president Hamzah Rahmat in a media statement.

He added although MATTA had campaigned hard for this over the past year, progress has been too slow.

“We are already missing out on the hordes of China tourists, over the coming Chinese New Year period,” he said.

He also noted that waiving visa fees alone — a measure that has been touted by some groups recently — will be insufficient, as “merely waiving visa fee does not remove the hassle and cost of applying for one, as 80% of the charges are pocketed by middlemen and third parties".

“For example, the Nepalese government had just closed Malaysia VLN Nepal, a visa processing company operating within the premises of the Malaysian Embassy in Kathmandu, because of 'shady deals', he pointed out.

He added that granting visa exemption is vital in achieving the target of 29.4 million visitors and RM89 billion in MyFest 2015, and that it will boost tourist arrivals and attract businessmen and investors into the country.

“This is a much needed shot-in-the-arm for agencies under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, such as Malaysian Investment Development Authority and Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation”, he said.

According to Rahmat, a recent survey by Travelzoo had revealed the Chinese will travel the most this year, taking an average 6.4 leisure trips in 2015 and spending an average of US$8,558.

“It is imperative that an announcement be made at the next Cabinet meeting, which would empower Malaysia to be just as competitive as our Asean neighbours [in] vying for China tourists and investments,” he added.