KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 (PTI): In a bid to further boost tourism, Malaysia has announced that passengers who are on transit at the international airport here will be able to go on a quick city tour to experience Kuala Lumpur.
Under the "Discover Kuala Lumpur" programme, visitors on transit for at least four hours will be whisked away on the high-speed airport express train to the city to visit its attractions.
Tourism Malaysia director-general Mirza Mohammad Taiyab described the programme as a positive way of getting visitors on transit to experience the sights and sounds of Kuala Lumpur.
"If it works out, these passengers can be turned into returning visitors as they would be able to see what Malaysia is like beyond the airport building, even if only for a short while," he said.
There is also a special package to Menara KL, one of the world's tallest communication tower, which includes a guided tour, nature walks and meals.
"Nearly half the Indian tourists used their transit visas to visit places like Genting Highlands when the immigration department used to issue visas-on-arrival until last year," a top tourism official said.
The visa-on-arrival for passengers from Chennai was stopped temporarily as a large number had reportedly misused it by overstaying in the country.
At least three per cent of the Kuala Lumpur international airport's 24 million passengers per annum are transit passengers. Malaysia is expecting 20.1 million tourists and 44.5 billion ringgit in receipts in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year 2007.
M'sia announces tour package to transit passengers
FE Team | Published: June 15, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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