Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak had announced the waiver of visa fees for tourists from various countries, particularly China.

Najib wants free visas to take effect before the Chinese New Year, where the number of Chinese travelers is at its peak. Chinese New Year falls on Feb 19th.

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Najib made the announcement during the 2015 budget revision measures. Chinese applicants will be exempted from paying the 80 yuan visa processing fee.  But the government pointed out that tourists still need to apply for visas, citing safety concerns.

Chinese tourists are the target of the policy change.  Chinese travelers shunned Malaysia in the aftermath of the disappearance of Flight MH370 in March last year.  Some Chinese travel agencies even stopped selling tickets to Malaysia, as questions on the plane's disappearance were left unanswered.  The flight carried 227 passengers - 153 of them were Chinese.

Some groups, however, were not impressed with the government's offer.  Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association Secretary-General Tai Poh Kim said Chinese tourists are more discouraged by the red-tape involving visa application, rather than attracted to the free visas. 

"We were told that they would still have to submit forms to the respective visa centres before they can travel to Malaysia,"  Tai said. 

"Chinese tourists are among the big spenders that we are trying to attract but this (applying for visas) will turn them away to other holiday destinations such as Indonesia and Thailand," Tai added.

Malaysia suffered more than RM225million in lost revenue following the disappearance of Flight MH370, as well as abductions in Sabah last year.  It had not recovered since then. 

The Malaysian government is focused on its efforts to boost its tourism industry.  Aside from issues concerning its aviation industry, the country is also coping with the impact of the plummeting oil crude price and depreciating ringgit.  

TagsMalaysia, visa fee, tourism, Malaysia Airlines