CONGESTION at the Causeway border control in Johor is one of the main reasons for the two million drop in tourists arrivals from Singapore last year, said Deputy Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik.  

Bakhtiar said the Johor Causeway and Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) Complex in Johor Baru was unable to handle the crowd as it was built mainly for handling cargo.

However, the government is looking into solving problems at the CIQ to allow for easier travelling for tourists from Singapore.

“Mainly, the reason is congestion. The CIQ is more for cargo. Its facilities are not meant for tourist arrivals.

“There is also a KDN (Home Ministry) condition that requires VOA (visa on arrival) to be processed at the CIQ.

“That is why many Chinese tourists who required the VOA were stuck at the CIQ two or three weeks ago during the Singapore school break,” he said at the opening of the Penang Matta fair at the Setia Spice Arena this morning.

Bakhtiar was commenting on the tourist arrivals drop from Singapore last year, which had reportedly hurt food businesses in Johor and Malacca.

Compared with 2017’s 12 million, only about 10.2 million tourists entered Malaysia from Singapore. The drop of more than 14% led Malaysia to miss its 26.4 million tourist arrival target for 2018, recording only 25.83 million.

Industry players in Malacca and Johor have blamed the drop on congestion at the border, as well as tensions between Malaysia and Singapore over the raw water, and airspace and maritime border issues.

Bakhtiar said he visited the CIQ last week with Home Ministry and other ministries’ officials.

He said some strategies were under consideration to improve congestion at the CIQ.

“We made a proposal to the Home Ministry, but I cannot speak about it now. The ministry will have to respond to it first.

“Singapore is also preventing drivers who have not paid their fines from leaving the island. That may be another reason for the congestion.”

Another reason for the drop, Bakhtiar said, could be the many travel promotions on offer by Singapore Airlines and tour agents for other destinations in Southeast Asia, apart from Malaysia.

He said other countries in the region are aggressively promoting their own destinations, although Malaysia still retained its second place status as the most visited Asean country after Thailand.

“In terms of tourist arrival growth in Asean, Malaysia is the only country that saw a drop of 0.4%. Our neighbours all recorded growth. Vietnam saw the highest increase of almost 20%.

“We have to compete with our neighbours, of course. Even Brunei is promoting its tourism. With 91% of our visitors from Asia, we need to be resilient.”

Malaysia received 25.8 million tourists last year, a slight drop from 25.9 million in 2017. The bulk of the tourists came from China (3 million), India and South Korea.

Bakhtiar said his ministry has proposed to the Home Ministry to facilitate the visa process for tourists from China and India.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) president Tan Kok Liang urged the government to review laws to level the playing ground for travel agents to compete with online platforms, like online agents and e-hailing providers that also offer transport to tourists.

The Matta fair in Penang this weekend sees 83 organisations participating and 266 booths. Among the participants are 42 tour and travel agents, and 16 hotels, resorts and theme parks.

Last September’s fair recorded a sales turnover of RM31.6 million. – April 5, 2019.