View of Kuala Lumpur skyline, Malaysia, May 30, 2023. Photo credit: Reuters
Malaysia recorded around 29 million foreign arrivals last year, making it Southeast Asia’s most popular destination, but before COVID-19, that throne belonged to Thailand.
According to the Focus Malaysia news site, Singaporeans were Malaysia’s largest foreign migrant arrival at 8.3 million, followed by Indonesians, Thais, Chinese and Bruneians.
Thailand was second in the region with 28 million foreign tourists, followed by Singapore with 13.6 million.
Vietnam ranked fourth with 12.6 million people, followed by Indonesia with 11.7 million people.
The Philippines and Cambodia each attracted approximately 5.4 million international tourists in 2023.
Southeast Asian countries have been implementing flexible immigration policies since the end of last year, and are eager to attract foreign tourists.
Starting December 1, Malaysia will allow nationals from mainland China and India 30 days of visa-free entry, in a similar move to Thailand.
From mid-August, Vietnam has issued three-month tourist visas to nationals of all countries and regions, and unilaterally tripled the period of stay in Vietnam to 45 days for nationals of 13 countries exempted from visas. .
As regional competition intensifies, Prime Minister Pham Minh Trinh last week instructed ministries to consider expanding visa exemptions for nationals of certain countries in line with bilateral cooperation activities.
