The amount of unaccustomed vacationer arrivals in Malaysia is expected to reach 5 million before the end of this year, according to the country’s leading association for travel and tours.

The easing of limitations since the first of April 1 and the new flow in worldwide travel has set tourism businesses tactically positioned for recuperation, said Tan Kok Liang, the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents President. Liang said that they have had about 1 million arrivals from the time when the Malaysian government dismissed the restrictions on the arrival of international tourists. Among those, around 600,000 arrivals came from adjoining Singapore.

Liang opined that they are hopeful with countries from the EU, Australia, India, Japan and other ASEAN countries are providing them with a very positive response and they are confident that they can easily reach the 5 million mark.

The Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail SabriYaakobsaid that Malaysia will move to an endemic period of the pandemic and reopen its boundaries for travellers around the world from April 1. It is mostly to simplify the stress on Malaysia’s economy.

The choice was made due to the public vaccination campaign against COVID-19 and to allow Malaysians to go back to normal life after fighting against the virus for two years.

Liang said that the travel industry faces problems, mostly due to a lack of manpower after two years of turbulence and other problems in getting foreign workers.