Malaysia removes VoA for Iranian tourists

The Malaysian government’s decision to scrap visa on arrival (VoA) for Iran will hurt Iranian arrivals during the Visit Malaysia Year campaign, according to Malaysian travel consultants TTG Asia spoke to.

Malaysia stopped issuing VoA for Iranians after a request from the Australian government, on fears that Iranians were using Malaysia as a transit point to enter Australia illegally, reported Malaysian daily The Star.

Aspen Holidays’ operations manager, Loo Pei Yuet, said: “Iranians are last-minute travellers, so having to apply for a visa and wait for approval will definitely affect arrivals.”

Combined with the weak Iranian rial relative to the US dollar, she predicted a 40 per cent drop in business from Iran during the Iranian new year Nourooz in March, also the peak Iranian travel season.  

Meanwhile Andy Muniandy, director of sales and business development at Asian Overland Services Tours & Travel, said the impact on arrivals is subject to how easy it is for Iranians to obtain a visa from their country of residence.

He added that his business would not be very affected as Iran is not the company’s main market. “We get mainly ad-hoc, FIT travellers and our main destinations are Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Langkawi.”

Last year, Malaysia saw 127,404 Iranian tourists representing an 8.7 per cent decline from 2011, when the country registered 139,617 Iranian visitors.

-TTG Asia.