China and Malaysia have announced an extension to their respective visa-free policies for tourists, under which Malaysians will enjoy visa-free entry to China until the end of 2025 and Chinese visa-free entry into Malaysia until the end of 2026.
The mutual policies were first implemented from 1 December 2023, at which time Chinese tourist were granted 30-day visa-free entry to Malaysia and Malaysian tourists 15-day visa-free entry to China for a period of one year.
Following an official visit to Malaysia by State Council Premier Li Qiang from 18 to 20 June, during which in-depth exchanges were held to strengthen cooperation between the two sides, the nations issued a joint statement on Thursday confirming an extension of the visa-free policy between the two sides.
China is Malaysia’s largest source market outside of ASEAN, with Tourism Malaysia previously estimating it will welcome between 5 million and 7 million Chinese tourists this year.
The extension of the visa-free policy for Chinese travelers also brings good news for Malaysian IR Resorts World Genting, with Maybank analyst Samuel Yin Shao Yang writing in a recent note that the property would benefit from the “en masse return of Chinese tourists” in 2024.
Yin added, “We expect earnings to recover to pre-COVID-19 levels this year thanks to higher than pre-COVID-19 gaming revenues … We expect most of the growth in gaming revenue this year to come from Chinese tourists.”
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