My Say: Use Visit Malaysia 2026 to fix gaps in policy and delivery

The government’s Visa Liberalisation Plan is key to the overarching strategy, with China and India expected to contribute the most growth to the arrivals target.

Government-to-government reciprocal arrangements have contributed significantly to reducing bureaucracy with immediate effects seen in more than 30% arrival growth, especially through additional routes spanning from Lanzhou to Thiruvananthapuram.

Our government-linked entities, in particular Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd and Malaysia Aviation Group Bhd, are shouldering key aspects of this route development exercise.

The idea goes beyond increasing frequency and accessibility to Malaysia.

Equally important is diversifying arrival options to adjacent key terminals such as Bayan Lepas, Kota Kinabalu and Langkawi.

However, the onus is then on the government’s promotional approach to generate sufficient global demand for airlines to continue offering such alternatives in the longer term, especially as previously untapped destinations such as Labuan Bajo and Phu Quoc are growing in popularity.

Yes, the numbers are looking good for another bumper year. But closer scrutiny is required to achieve optimal economic spillover impact from our targeted arrivals.

Our three-year trend indicates that one-third of Malaysia’s international arrivals do not stay overnight. This could mean that they are business travellers or, more logically, that they are here on transit or are land travellers from Singapore, Thailand, Brunei or Kalimantan.

This is a double-edged situation when Malaysia is a regional hub for low-cost carriers. It could also mean that the government cannot capture more day-trippers and encourage them to extend their stay in Malaysia before enjoying island holidays in, say, Phuket or Bali.

One may have seen RapidKL offering discounted day passes for tourists to tour the Klang Valley using the LRT and MRT.

Such campaigns are commendable but easy to overlook when other transit hubs in the Gulf can provide multiple all-in packages from visiting traditional souks to world-class museums and even a Ferrari-sponsored roller coaster ride.

This is not an unfair comparison despite Malaysia not having the same level of petrodollars.

After all, travel preferences are subjective and our job is to assess what the demographic profile looks like.

It is not an overstatement to say that the government is focusing too heavily on route development.

We will have to acknowledge that land arrivals constitute half of total arrivals. A straightforward approach to increasing these figures is to improve our bus network and reliability, which currently leave much to be desired.

Our experience at the customs, immigration and quarantine (CIQ) complex in Johor Bahru shows that when coordinated efficiently, taking the bus can be a more predictable option for cross-border travel than driving.

There is a misconception, among policymakers in particular, that encouraging bus ridership would require fares to be subsidised. To prove a point, taking the bus remains a remote possibility for the majority of residents in Petaling Jaya, even where it is free.

Unfortunately, the reliability of our interstate bus service is inconsistent.

If one were to board a bus from Terminal Bersepadu Selatan past midnight for a morning arrival in Woodlands, it is a common experience that certain operators are delayed not by minutes but by hours. Similarly, if foreign travellers on a hiking trip in Negeri Sembilan wish to catch a transit bus to KLIA from Nilai or Seremban, one can be assured that the services and facilities are far from world-class.

Lastly, a major issue for the government to address urgently is the status of short-term rental accommodation (STRA), which remains unresolved despite the emphasis on making VM2026 a record-breaking success.

It is an open secret that the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac) and the Ministry of Housing and Local Government have agreed that federal-level guidelines should be introduced to standardise regulations on STRAs, given that this is a state matter.

The Penang government has shown since 2023 the policy impact of STRA regulations, which are principally meant to better protect consumers, manage disputes and curb the overheating of strata developments for aggressive commercial use. The Selangor government has followed suit with regulations effective in 2026.

While requirements between the Penang and Selangor state governments are comparable, it is imperative for federal guidance to be in place for policy standardisation. A fragmented policy environment would likely add compliance costs to STRA operators, which would eventually be passed on to visitors through price increases, reduced quality control and less availability.

As we await amendments to the Tourism Industry Act 1992 and the regulatory framework on STRA to be completed by Motac, this situation reflects a broader policy mismatch or bottleneck in our pursuit of the public good.

VM2026 presents another opportunity to uplift Malaysia’s competitiveness in the tourism sector. Improvements in these areas would indirectly spur domestic demand, which has long been a key engine of economic growth for Malaysia.