Can Malaysia lure back the massive wave of Chinese tourists?

Meanwhile back in Malaysia, our government is still embroiled in endless disputes over visa requirements for Chinese tourists. With our short-sighted officials behaving more like frogs in a well, the future of this country is bleak.

Some 120 million Chinese nationals travel abroad for holidays every year. If we can lure just 3 per cent of them to our shores, our tourism sector would receive a major boost. Such immeasurable business opportunities are eyed hungrily by every nation and, indeed, the Malaysian government is also targeting this group of increasingly affluent tourists. But that aim is being stymied by indecision over offering visa-free entry to Chinese tourists. And not only have we shown little sincerity in inviting them, but we have even seen them as “potential foes” and a threat to national security.

Initial promises that Chinese nationals would be exempt from visa requirement proved groundless, though they can now enter Malaysia for free.

Finally, it was decided that between October 1 and March 31 next year, Chinese nationals entering Malaysia on group tours could do so without a visa. Unfortunately our immigration department has defied that order from above on the pretext of safeguarding national security.

Our immigration officials are behaving like “Little Napoleons”, treating Chinese tourists as potential troublemakers. This, no doubt, is highly demeaning for any potential visitor from the Middle Kingdom.

As a compromise, immigration officials eventually agreed to offer visa exemption facility to Chinese tourists arriving in groups of two or more, but with the condition they purchase tour packages approved by the Malaysian and Chinese governments. This means independent travellers will not be entitled to this facility.

China is the third-largest source of foreign tourists in Malaysia after Singapore and Indonesia, yet Chinese arrivals have dropped markedly since the MH370 incident and Sabah kidnappings. During the first three months this year, Malaysia saw only 379,000 Chinese tourists visited the country, down 30 per cent from a year ago.

Where have all these Chinese tourists gone?

One answer is that they go to regional countries that offer them visa-exemption facilities, such as Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.

And following the Japanese government’s visa liberalisation policy, Chinese tourists have been flocking the Land of the Rising Sun in droves. The number of Chinese visitors to Japan has hit new highs for 15 months in a row since September 2013. For the first 11 months in 2014, some 2.219 million Chinese tourists visited Japan.

The sudden surge has boosted the Japanese tourism industry, with shopping-crazy Chinese tourists becoming hot news in the cities and towns of Japan. They spend an average of 380,000 yen (Bt111,000) per person, and this immense purchasing power has brought enormous business opportunities across the Japanese commercial sector.

As Chinese nationals become more affluent, overseas vacations have become an everyday part of their lives. Chinese travel during the peak holiday seasons during the new year, spring festival, Labour Day and National Day. According to a recent survey, the top 10 destinations for China’s outbound tourists during these peak travel seasons are Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong/Macau, Taiwan, the United States, Singapore, Indonesia, Maldives and Italy.

Yet while Japan is the biggest beneficiary of this unprecedented surge, Malaysia is the biggest loser, thanks to our wavering visa policy.

Merrill Lynch reports that about 109 million Chinese nationals travelled overseas last year, spending a total of US$164 billion (Bt5.9 trillion). The report also predicts that Chinese tourists will spend up to $264 billion overseas annually four years from now.

Governments across the world have been fighting hard to grab a sizeable share of this gigantic market, rushing to offer visa exemption facilities to them. Meanwhile our own government chooses to haughtily buck the trend.