According to a Bernama report, this is what the MPN is proposing to the government.
The country’s borders have been closed to foreigners since the start of the pandemic.
In a statement today, Muhyiddin said the fifth National Recovery Council (MPN) meeting for 2021 had discussed the slow recovery of the tourism sector due to a lack of international tourists.
“Taking into account the excellent achievements of the national vaccination programme, the meeting has decided that the country’s borders should be opened to international tourists latest by Jan 1, 2022 to speed up recovery for the sector,” he said.
Muhyiddin’s statement comes on the heels of reports that Malaysia will be opening up a Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) between Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and Changi Airport, and a Vaccinated Travel Corridor (VTC) between Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.
The VTL between KLIA and Changi Airport, to take effect on Nov 29, will enable fully vaccinated Malaysians and Singaporeans to travel between the two countries without the need to observe any quarantine.
Air travellers will be required to take a Covid-19 test.
The VTC between Malaysia and Indonesia was announced by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob following talks with Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Jakarta yesterday.
The proposal, to be implemented early next year, will first see a travel corridor that will connect Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta by air, before other destinations that have shown to be low Covid-19 risk can be added.
On Oct 22, tourism, arts and culture minister Nancy Shukri had also said the travel bubble project involving Langkawi would be expanded to include international visitors “perhaps in early December, if not earlier”.
Her comments followed Ismail’s statement in the Dewan Negara that the government would not open the country’s borders arbitrarily to foreign travellers, with permission depending on the Covid-19 situation in their countries of origin.
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