KUALA LUMPUR, 8 April 2019. Singaporeans are sitting in in traffic jams instead of driving to their favourite holiday destinations in neighbouring Malaysia.
Looking for reasons why arrivals from Singapore dropped by almost 2 million in 2018, Deputy Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik blamed it on traffic jams at the narrow causeway separating the two countries.
Visits dropped 14.7% to 10.6 million last year from 12.4 million in 2017, which is still remarkable performance considering Singapore’s small population.
Motorists have to pass two checkpoints for customs and immigration and sit in their cars in gridlocked traffic.
“The gridlock at Singapore’s Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex often sees people waiting for hours just to pass through the checkpoints,” he told the Star newspaper.
The minster made the comments at the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) Fair hosted in Penang at the weekend.
Just 1 km of causeway separates Johor Baru in Malaysia from Woodlands on the Singapore side.
Long traffic jams and the potential hassle of being pulled over for traffic offences deter motorists from making frequent trips.
Singaporeans often complain online that their SG plates make them potential targets to be pulled over once they are driving in Malaysia possibly on trumped-up speeding or traffic offences. Officials check cars registrations at the causeway for outstanding traffic fines.
But there are other causes for the drop in overland travel to Malaysia. The steady rise of low-cost flights to numerous destinations around the region that make it more convenient to fly direct to destinations and hire a car on arrival.
Especially during school holidays, Singaporean families often book holidays to Thailand on low-cost flights and then tour parts of the country by self-drive car.
Thai AirAsia recently introduced direct flights from Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to Chiang Rai and car rental firms at the north Thailand airport report an increase in rentals from passengers arriving on these flights. The same reports have surfaced at Chiang Mai and Phuket airports served by direct flights from Singapore.
“We have to accept the fact that all our neighbours are promoting their countries through advertisements and promotions,” the Minister told Star Online.
Tourism Malaysia released details of tourist arrivals earlier this year that showed declines in arrivals from nine nations in 2018. In addition to Singapore, visits from Brunei, New Zealand, Sweden, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Laos, Nepal and Ireland declined.
However, visits from Indonesia increased by 17.2% and China by 29%, which helped to push the total to 25.83 million for the entire year up from 26.4 million in 2017. This year the minister said visits should reach 28.1 million.
(Source Star with additional reporting)
