By Brad Rantayy
MIRI, Aug 14: The Immigration Department and tour agents need to work closely together to ensure the smooth issuance of Visa-on-Arrival (VOA) for tourists flying in from China and India at Miri Airport.
“Avoid making them (tourists) wait for one to two hours for their VOA to be issued upon their arrivals here,” stressed Assistant Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Lee Kim Shin.
“We want the process to be quick and less complicated because we want to encourage as many tourists to come here as possible, especially from China and India. We have made similar arrangements at the Sungai 7 border checkpoint.”
He said this after chairing a meeting with Immigration Department officers and tour agents at Miri Airport earlier today.
Lee added that his ministry would be writing to AirAsia on the VOA so that they could inform their passengers from China and India on the necessary preparations upon their arrivals here.
“Don’t reject them on the spot just because of lack of some documents,” he said.
In the first seven months of this year, Miri registered a total 6,425 tourists from China and 3,373 from India, compared to 8,518 (from China) and 5,177 (from India) during the corresponding period last year.
Meanwhile, APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC) holders are also eligible for the VOA. — DayakDaily
