KUCHING, Feb 27: The Immigration Department should not continue to use high number of arrivals at airports as excuses for long clearance queues and waiting time, says Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac) Dato Sri Tiong King Sing.
Tiong in a social media post today said Malaysia is in competition with other foreign airports whose clearances are more efficiently handled.
“The inefficiencies seen in our airports put Malaysia in a negative light and will ultimately turn away vast numbers of tourists due to a loss in travelers’ confidence.
“We need to deal with the problem at hand, rather than let the problems snowball and foment a negative international image to our detriment,” he said.
Tiong said overcrowding and long queues are still being encountered at our airport, especially during peak hours.
This has predictably led to much anger and negative comments online when it takes as long as two to four hours for immigration clearance.
The Bintulu MP also appealed to the respective Secretaries-General of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Transport to conduct checks on the ground and empower the various departments involved to comprehensively improve the efficiency of immigration clearances.
“I have also proposed that the aforementioned ministries to open special lanes for families traveling with elderly and children, which was agreed upon by the Secretaries-General and both ministries.
“Making such facilities available would greatly expedite the clearances for those that need more time and assistance and reduce crowding at airports.
“Needless to say, continue to allow long waits and queues at our country’s entry points would negatively affect Malaysia’s image and stagnate the tourism sector’s recovery and growth,” he said.
On the same note, Tiong expressed his gratitude to Minister of Home Affairs Datuk Seri Saifuiddin Nasution on the decision to extend the use of airport autogates to foreigners, which will help alleviate the congestion.
He hoped that the officers of the department involved would do more to actively find solutions to ease the congestion as the secretaries-general of Ministry of Transport (MOT) and Ministry of Home Affairs (KDN) have agreed to look into the matter.
“I wish to remind once again that in the wake of relaxed border controls worldwide, the number of international arrivals is bound to increase substantially, not least due to the pent-up demand for travel in the post-pandemic era.
“We need to actively take steps to pre-empt this trend of increasing tourist arrivals or risk further negative impacts to Malaysia’s tourism industry,” said Tiong. – DayakDaily.
