M'SIAN GOVT RESTORES VISA-FREE TRANSIT FACILITY

PUTRAJAYA, May 24 (Bernama) -- The government will restore the visa-free
transit facility for nationals from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka
from July 1, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said Monday.

He said the government felt that the facility would benefit the country's
tourism industry.

"At one time, we had it (the visa-free transit facility) but it was
withdrawn for certain reasons.

"We discussed (this matter) again because it is beneficial in terms of
tourism," he said after chairing a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Tourism,
here.

Also present was Tourism Minister Dr Ng Yen Yen.

Muhyiddin said the government would hold discussions with the airlines which
transit Malaysia carrying the nationals of the four countries before announcing
the details of the facility.

He said the Home Ministry had proposed that a special criteria be
established before the visa-free transit facility was introduce to ensure that
it was not abused.

"It has been decided that several matters would have to be adhered to. Upon
agreement, nationals from the four countries can be allowed entry with the
visa-free transit facility," he said.

In a related development, he said the government agreed with a Tourism
Ministry proposal to have more flights to Malaysia in an effort to increase the
number of tourists coming to the country.

"We ask airlines such as MAS, AirAsia and AirAsia X to negotiate for more
landing rights and so on, and bring more tourists to the country," he said.

Muhyiddin said Malaysia registered 7.62 million tourist arrivals between
January and April this year, up from the 7.34 million for the corresponding
period last year.

He said the country's position on the United Nations World Tourism
Organisation (UNWTO) list of tourist arrivals also rose, moving to ninth place
from 11th in 2008.

He also said that the tourism sector contributed RM12.9 billion (uS$3.90
billion) between January and March this year to the nation's coffers compared to
RM12 billion (US$3.63 billion) for the corresponding period in 2008.

Muhyiddin said the government had also decided that foreigners married to
Malaysians could participate in the "Malaysia My Second Home" programme which
was hitherto restricted to foreign couples who fulfilled certain conditions.

"In this way, we can encourage more people who intend to live in Malaysia to
participate in the programme. Details of the programmes will be announced
shortly," he said.

Muhyiddin said the government would come up with one more tourism product by
introducing the "parks and gardens" tourism.

To encourage tourist arrivals from the Middle East during the Ramadan
Muslim fasting month, he said the government would hold special promotions in
that region to draw them to Malaysia during that period.

"We want to tell the potential tourists (from the Middle East) that we have
various facilities for them to undertake their fast, perform prayers, break
their fast, and have the "sahur" meal with various foods, including their own,"
he said.
-- BERNAMA