Mahathir: Stopping China-backed projects didn't cause drop in tourists
KUALA LUMPUR Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has denied that the cancellations or reviewing of various China-backed projects was behind the drop in tourists arrivals from China.
He said the drop in the number of Chinese tourists had affected not only Malaysia but other countries also.
"During their national holiday between Oct 1 and 7, many Chinese travelled overseas. However, many Chinese tourists had also travelled within China," he said in Parliament yesterday.
He was confident the number of Chinese tourists visiting Malaysia would pick up again.
Dr Mahathir was responding to MP Fong Kui Lun (PH-Bukit Bintang) who asked if the sharp drop in Chinese tourists during China's "golden week" national holidays was due to a negative perception of Malaysia, following a review of several China-backed projects.
Last year, it was estimated that some 180,000 Chinese tourists visited Malaysia during the week-long holiday period.
Malaysia attracted 2,281,666 tourists from China in 2017, netting RM13 billion (S$4.3 billion) in tourism receipts, according to Tourism Malaysia.
Rreplying to a supplementary question by Dr Wee Ka Siong (BN-Ayer Hitam), Dr Mahathir said the government would look at ways to reduce visa fees for Chinese tourists.
"The issuance of visas is done by China and there is a shortfall in the service which needs to be addressed," he said. "We will have to decide on a visa cost which is not too high and also look at ways on how to speed up the visa issuance process."
Dr Mahathir said the government would take measures to address the drop in the number of Chinese tourists.
In a separate development, Dr Mahathir yesterday said that 11 Uighur Muslims who had arrived in the country after a Thai jailbreak last year were freed because they had done nothing wrong in Malaysia.
- THE STAR, REUTERS
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
