KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 3): The Malaysian government has decided to extend visa exemption to tourists from China until Dec 31, 2017 and broaden the scope to cover tourists from India as well, Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz said.

During the oral question and answer session today at Dewan Rakyat, Mohd Nazri revealed that tourists from China constitute the third largest foreign arrival to Malaysia. According to statistics from January to August this year, Malaysia welcomed 1.41 million China tourists, equivalent to an increase of 26.3% compared to 1.11 million in the same period last year.

"For 2016, the ministry fixed a target of two million Chinese tourists arrival after we implemented the visa exemption policy. Based on the positive growth, the government has agreed to extend the visa exemption period to Chinese tourists, to Dec 31, 2017," he said.

"The government has [also] decided to broaden visa exemption to countries that provide rich source of tourists to Malaysia, like China. Hence, we agreed to give visa exemption to India tourists as well; it was introduced in February [this year]. I was told there were increases in India tourist arrival," he added, but did not provide further statistics.

Moving forward, Mohd Nazri also said his ministry is confident of achieving the four million China tourist arrival target by 2020.