Indian tourists’ arrival dropped due to the eVisa glitch

The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) has expressed concern over the arrival of Indian tourists during the recent month-long service disruption of Malaysia’s eVISA portal, saying it has resulted in MYR20 to 30 million losses.

The eVisa portal, the online facility to apply for a visa to Malaysia, is currently offline for maintenance and has been down since Sept 26.

“Apart from ASEAN, India is now the top contributor of foreign arrivals to Malaysia, with 71,481 Indian tourist arrivals between January to June 2022 alone, said MATTA president Datuk Tan Kok Liang in a statement to the media on Tuesday.

“We understand that, in September, approximately 23,000 Indian tourists opted to travel to Bali instead of Malaysia due to the difficulties in securing a visa to Malaysia,”

MATTA and Tourism Malaysia have organised a series of successful roadshows to India over the last few months. In addition, the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) convention was recently hosted in Kuching to promote Borneo to India’s outbound tourism markets.

Three visa centres were set up in Chennai, New Delhi and Mumbai to alleviate the eVisa portal downtime impact.

“Given the vastness of the Indian subcontinent, opening only three visa centres is far from practical,” the MATTA president explained.

“If Malaysia is to remain competitive and attractive in such lucrative outbound markets, we must look at more practical long-term measures. As such, the government must consider the immediate benefits of implementing a direct visa-on-arrival facility for Indian tourists,” Tan added.

Thailand and Indonesia already provide visa-on-arrival facilities to Indian tourists at international airport gateways.

Immigration Department director-general Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud said the vendor was working to rectify the problem.

“The eVisa system is not being suspended but just encountering some technical glitches.

“In the meantime, foreign visitors are advised to refer to a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section on the Immigration Department portal and social media regarding the manual application.

“Meanwhile, travellers from India and China on business trips and government matters can obtain their visa on arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport,” he said when contacted yesterday.

He said that such visitors should ensure that they have all the necessary documents, adding that they could fly directly to Malaysia.

On Oct 11, the High Commission of Malaysia in New Delhi announced on its social media that the service disruption of the eVisa portal would temporarily process the single-entry visa into Malaysia by the Visa Section at the consulates in Chennai, Mumbai or New Delhi.

This means that Indian citizens will now have to hand over the visa applications at the Malaysian consulates personally.