Malaysia makes renewed push for single Asean visa
Malaysia is pursuing for the facilitation of single visa among Asean member countries to boost tourism in the region, which is forecast will receive about 30 per cent of the projected one billion tourists globally by 2010.

Malaysia has been busy making a compelling argument for a single entry visa to all Asean member countries. “The Association of Asean Tour Agencies (ASTA) has agreed to pursue the matter to make it more conducive for tourists, especially long-haul travellers who come to this part of the world,” the country’s Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan told the Bernama news agency.

He added, “We are pushing for a single entry visa for tourists to Asean countries. A tourist visiting a member state will not need to apply for multiple visas to visit countries within the grouping.”

He said the issue had been raised with his counterpart in Singapore while Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia were keen on the ‘one destination, three or four countries’ strategy to boost regional tourism. Malaysia was also looking at clinching such an agreement with Myanmar, which did not see eye-to-eye on the matter at present, he said.


Travel & Tourism News Middle East, Bahrain