MALAYSIA is banking on a surge in tourist arrivals in the second half of 2023, as authorities seek to resolve issues linked to visa approvals and flight connectivity.

“We are now in mid-May, the government has time to increase the arrivals from June onward,” said Tan Kok Liang, the president of the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents.

Malaysia is targeting 16.1 million foreign tourists this year, 60 per cent more than last year. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Monday (May 15) said the government is prepared to speed up approval for chartered flights into the country to boost arrivals that are still some distance away from reaching pre-Covid levels.

“The numbers set by Tourism Malaysia are achievable,” Tan said. “We expect a surge in demand for the fourth quarter of this year.”

Meanwhile, Tourism Minister Tiong King Sing is targeting at least five million arrivals from China this year, as the government takes measures to ensure sufficient flights to a key market. There are not many flights linking China to cities such as Penang and Kota Kinabalu, Tan said.

Malaysia welcomed 178,150 Chinese tourists in the first quarter of 2023, up from fewer than 1,900 visitors in the year-ago period, Tiong said on Monday. Of the 26.1 million who visited the country in 2019, about 3.1 million were Chinese, according to data from Tourism Malaysia.

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The South-east Asian nation is targeting 23.5 million total arrivals for 2025, in line with the government’s Visit Malaysia programme that year. BLOOMBERG