Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Thursday that the country will grant visa exemption1 for Chinese tourists as a measure to boost tourism.
马来西亚总理纳吉布·拉扎克周四表示,马来西亚将向中国游客提供签证豁免权以促进旅游业发展。
When announcing the revised Budget 2016, Najib said that subject to certain conditions, visa will not be required for Chinese tourists to Malaysia for a period of no more than 15 days beginning from March 1 to Dec. 31, 2016.
This is among the efforts of the Malaysian government to
lure2 the Chinese tourists to
prop3 up its tourism, with the country's economy hit by the weak oil and international commodity price since last year.
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that the country aims to draw
annually4 8 million Chinese tourists over the next five years with RM22.1 billion (about 5.24 billion U.S. dollars) spending power.
Acknowledging the
arduousness5 of the target, Zahid said that the average spending of Chinese tourists on food,
lodging6 and shopping has reached RM3345 (about 792.4 dollars), and by taking proper planning and effective
promotion7, the aim could be realized.