As Malaysia needs more tourist dollars to boost its economy, it is crucial to ensure a smooth visa process for tourists especially from China, said Tourism Malaysia chairperson Wee Choo Keong.

He said the Immigration Department needs to be more transparent and sincere in relaxing visa conditions, before Chinese tourists lose their loyalty to Malaysia.

“This is unhealthy and not in the national interest. We must stop all confusion before losing Chinese tourists' loyalty,” he said, pointing out that the application process for the electronic visa (e-visa) programme is inconvenient.

The service came into effect on Jan 2.

Wee said while the e-visa is a boon to the tourism industry, tourism promotion activities could not be resumed if the visa process remains confusing and difficult for Chinese applicants.

He said Tourism Malaysia aims to attract two million Chinese tourists to Malaysia this year, adding that China is a huge market with 109 million Chinese travelling outbound in 2014.

Last December, the Malaysian cabinet announced the e-visa programme allowing visitors from seven countries namely China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the United States and Canada to apply for Malaysia’s tourist visas online.

The purpose of relaxing visa applications was to attract more tourists to Malaysia through the implementation of e-visa, especially those from China and India.

However, when the system was up and running on Jan 2 recently, the process seemed complicated to applicants compared with the walk-in procedure as they had to file online with return flight and accommodation details.

It is understood that after five working days and upon confirmation, applicants have to send their passport to a visa centre in China and pay 50 yuan for it to be couriered back to them, with another 10 yuan for express service.

The visa fee remains at 80 yuan and processing costs 120 yuan.

Before the e-visa, the visa waiver programme for Chinese nationals travelling in groups of two or more people was supposed to start on Dec 1 last year, although nothing has been implemented officially so far.

SPPV One Stop Centre, the visa processing centre in China, is jointly operated by Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd and Beijing Lingxiang International Entry and Exit Service Co Ltd.

- Bernama