Malaysia is re-focusing on the North America market for boost inbound tourism following its international border reopening according to Mr. Akbal Setia, the Vice President of Tourism Malaysia for the Americas., who is based out of their Los Angels office.
Before the pandemic, Malaysia had welcomed 269,928 visitors from the USA and 87,568 from Canada in 2019, an increase of 6.5% and 3.4% from 2018 respectively. Tourism Malaysia hopes to promote Malaysia as a top-of-mind holiday destination with a diversity of attractions, as well as a value-for-money destination.
According to Mr. Akbal, “We are very excited to showcase Malaysia’s unique experience and welcome more international travellers to our fascinating country. We hope to inspire and motivate our travel trade partners to promote and sell Malaysia with confidence and succeed in the USA and Canada.”
Beginning 1 August 2022, Malaysia has allowed all travellers to enter Malaysia regardless of their COVID-19 vaccination status, without requirements to undergo quarantine or pre- departure and on-arrival COVID-19 tests. Travel insurance is also not a prerequisite for foreigners entering Malaysia, and inbound travellers no longer need to fill in the Traveler’s Card on the country’s contact tracing app, MySejahtera.
For the latest standard operating procedures (SOP) information, please visit Tourism Malaysia’s website at https://malaysia.travel/travel-alert or MySafeTravel portal at https://mysafetravel.gov.my/.
