Write：Hou Bairu，Zhu Lijing
Editor：He Yuhan，WangBo
On 26 November, Malaysia announced a 30-day visa-free entry for tourists from China and other countries from 1 December. Before that on 24 November China has announced since 1 December 2023 to 30 November 2024, to give Malaysian citizens business, tourism, visiting friends and relatives and transit 15 days visa-free entry policy, after the release of the news, a number of travel platforms Malaysia travel search heat increased significantly, to promote the win-win situation of entry and exit tourism.
(The picture is the meeting announcing the announcement of Malaysia's visa waiver policy. Source from cri.cn)
President of the Centre for New Inclusive Asia, Koh King Kee said: “The mutual waiver of visa requirements for visits by Malaysian and Chinese citizens on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and China is no doubt a new milestone on the bilateral relations between the two countries. “It will definitely provide a much-needed boost to Malaysia’s tourism industry, facilitate trade and investment, foster education and academic exchanges, thus enhancing people-to-people bond — the foundation of a strong and close bilateral tie,” he told Bernama.
The representative of Malaysia said on Sunday that it would implement a 30-day visa-free policy for Chinese tourists from 1 December, the search volume of Malaysia on China's travel platform has surged. According to data released by China's National Immigration Administration on December 2, on the first day of the implementation of the six-country visa-free policy, a total of 2,029 people from the relevant countries entered China visa-free, with Malaysia as the country with the largest number of visa-free entries from the six countries on that day. Chengdu Municipal Bureau of culture, radio, television and tourism relevant person in charge said that according to the major travel platforms and tourism market supervision platform shows that the recent Malaysia to China travel orders rapid growth.
Miss Li, a Chinese tourist who came to Malaysia, said, "It is very convenient for me to come to Malaysia in only four hours, I bought a discounted air ticket this time, and the round trip only cost a little over 1,000 RMB. The scenery of Semporna is really beautiful and makes me feel relaxed. I will bring my parents to the parade next time."
To provide a richer tourism experience, the Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism for Southeast Asian countries, Chinese overseas Chinese concentration, the characteristics of Chinese cultural identity is high, to "go to Chengdu together, joyful Chinese New Year" as the theme, link Chengdu metropolitan area, launched the "play ice" "Panda Watching", "Visiting Monuments", "Gourmet Food" and "Chinese New Year" are the five types of winter travel routes to Chengdu.
Vivian, a visitor of this inbound tour, said: "It's so convenient to enter China this time! After we learnt that we could visit China visa-free, my friends and I planned to start our trip to China. Before the trip, I learnt about the new Chengdu itinerary, and I'm looking forward to the trip even more. Chengdu's rich cultural history and natural resources are very attractive to me, and I hope to see the pandas and experience Chengdu."
(Pictures of Malaysian visitors to Chengdu. Source, cri.cn)
And on the day Malaysia made the announcement, the search index for Malaysia on its platform nearly doubled week over week, according to data provided by China's main travel platform, to bracket to the Global Times on Monday. There are direct flights to Kuala Lumpur from several Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Chongqing, Changsha, and Xiamen, on the Where to Go app. Flights from Beijing to Kuala Lumpur in December cost around 750 yuan ($104), while flights from Hangzhou to Kuala Lumpur on 30 December (New Year holiday) cost around 1,038 yuan.
In the afternoon of 15 December, Dato' Sri Teo Keng Seng, Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture of Malaysia, led a delegation to visit Tongcheng Travel and had a discussion and exchange of views with Bai Zhiwei, CMO of Tongcheng Travel, and the overseas destination team of Tongcheng Travel. Yang Shunxing, vice chairman of Tourism Malaysia, and Bai Zhiwei signed a strategic cooperation agreement on behalf of the two parties, reaching multifaceted and in-depth cooperation on the construction of Malaysia's tourism platform, tourism product design and promotion, and big data sharing.
