KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Splendid Chinese New Year is a different kind of Chinese New Year experience in Malaysia.
Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Yi Xu Xinyu.
The melody of the song "Wishing you prosperity" is in your ears, the buildings on the street are decorated with golden dragons, and tourists in Hanfu and Tang costumes walk by ......During the Chinese New Year of the Dragon, these scenes, which are common in many parts of China, also appear in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.
Many industry insiders said that Kuala Lumpur's strong Chinese New Year flavor is closely related to the mutual visa exemption between China and Malaysia. China previously announced that China will implement a unilateral visa-free entry policy for six countries, including Malaysia, from December 1, 2023. Malaysia also announced that from December 1, 2023, Malaysia will implement visa-free measures for Chinese citizens to enter the country for 30 days.
Because of the implementation of visa facilitation policies between the two countries, Zhu Yujie, a Chinese student living in Malaysia, chose to invite her parents from Guizhou, China, to visit Malaysia and reunite her family abroad. This Spring Festival, Liu Ziyu, who is studying in Beijing, also brought her mother to Malaysia for the New Year. Liu Ziyu told reporters that with the visa-free facilitation policy, the entry process is very smooth.
Malaysia** described the effect of mutual visa exemption between China and Malaysia as "immediate". In an interview with Xinhua News Agency, Yang Shunxing, vice chairman of the Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board, said that during the Spring Festival of the Year of the Dragon, the willingness of Chinese tourists to choose Malaysia as a tourist destination has increased significantly, and Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Sabah, Genting Highlands and other popular destinations are all popular destinations. During the Chinese New Year, the occupancy rate of some hotels in Malaysia exceeded 90%.
According to the platform data recently released by Tongcheng Travel, Kuala Lumpur is one of the most popular outbound destinations for China's civil aviation international flights, and the Guangzhou-Kuala Lumpur route has entered the top five popular international routes in China for the first time. China Eastern Airlines' new direct flight from Beijing to Kuala Lumpur before the Spring Festival is also popular with passengers.
According to the Chairman of the Working Committee of the Historic City of Malacca, Malaysia, Yan Tianlu, during the Spring Festival, Chinese tourists visiting Malacca, especially Jonker Street, exceeded expectations. Many Chinese tourists choose to have Chinese New Year's Eve dinner in Malacca, which was relatively rare in the past. "This plays an important role in promoting the development of local tourism and increasing local tourism revenue. ”
Yan Tianlu also noticed that since the implementation of the visa-free policy, the number of "independent travel" tourists has increased a lot. "About 30 percent of the participants in the countdown to Jonker Street on Chinese New Year's Eve are Chinese tourists. They join the locals to welcome the Year of the Dragon. ”
Malaysia** also hopes that Chinese outbound tourism will lead to the recovery of Malaysia's tourism industry. On the Chinese New Year's Eve, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim attended the event at Jonker Street in Malacca and experienced the strong Spring Festival atmosphere with local citizens and tourists. On the first and second days of the Lunar New Year, Malaysia's Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Teo Keng Sin made a special trip to Kuala Lumpur International Airport to greet Chinese tourists and bring them souvenirs.
From the skyscrapers of Kuala Lumpur to the historic city of Malacca, Chinese tourists visiting Malaysia welcome the arrival of the Chinese New Year while traveling, and reap a taste of the new year in familiar and novel experiences.