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Japan National Tourism Organization

Singapore Office

June 2013

Press ReleaseVisa Exemption for Malaysian Visitors to Japan

Singapore, 14 June 2013 The Japanese Government has announced on 11 June 2013 that visaapplication procedures will be exempted for Malaysian passport holders. This would mean that Malaysianpassport holders would no longer have to apply for a visa to enter Japan in coming months. The effectivedate of the implementation and the length of stay without visa will be announced soon.

The announcement on visa exemption on Malaysian passports spells positive news to Malaysian travelersas it is now more hassle-free to travel to Japan. Travelers can now choose to travel to Japan at an evenshorter notice, without having to allocate time to apply for a travelling visa. The ease of travel will certainlyboost numbers of tourist visits, as well as tourist package sales to Japan.

We spoke to the President of ASEANTA (ASEAN Tourism Association), Dato Mohd Khalid Harun, about thevisa exemption initiative. He mentioned that the initiative will lead to a marked increase in tourist arrivals toJapan from ASEAN countries. He also expressed his thanks to the initiative, As President of ASEANTA, it isvery good to hear that Japan is easing travel restrictions for citizens from ASEAN countries. On behalf ofMATTA and ASEANTA, I would like to say, Thank you for the welcome news.

The CEO of AirAsia X, Mr. Azran Osman-Rani, is thrilled to hear of the good news too. He feels that theinitiative would further allow our fellow Malaysian guests greater access to Japan and that it wouldincrease tourist traffic from Malaysia and passenger growth to the country.

Mr. Motonari Adachi, the Executive Director of the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) Singaporeadds on that the visa exemption would contribute to an increase in tourist arrivals to Japan. He mentioned

that the visa waiver would serve as a good opportunity for JNTO to draw more visitors to Japan, and to lookout for upcoming major promotional campaigns.

The numbers in Malaysian visitor arrivals to Japan have been consistently on the rise since January 2013.14700 Malaysian visitors went to Japan in April 2013. The figures for Malaysian tourist arrivals from Januaryto April 2013 went up by 13.7% as compared to the corresponding months in 2012. An estimated total of130,300 Malaysian visitors went to Japan in year 2012.

The potential for growth in outbound tourism to Japan is apparent for Malaysia. With the visa waiver and theyen depreciation, total Malaysian visitor arrivals are expected to hit above 160,000 in 2013.

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For media enquiries, kindly please contact:

Susan Maria Ong

Manager

Japan National Tourism Organization Singapore Office

16 Raffles Quay, #15-09 Hong Leong Building

Singapore 045581

Tel: (65) 6223 8205 Ext 105/ Fax: (65) 6223 6035

Email: susan_ong@jnto.org.sg

Website: (Global) http://www.jnto.go.jp / (Local) http://www.jnto.org.sg