Congestion at the Causeway has cost Malaysia two million visitors from Singapore.

From 12 million to 10.2 million

Deputy Minister Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik revealed on April 5, 2019 that figures have fallen by a quite a bit.

There were 10.2 million arrivals recorded in 2018.

This is compared with 12 million in 2017.

It was previously reported that visitors from Singapore to Malaysia fell by 15 percent.

Congestion bad

Congestion at the Johor CIQ has been cited as one of the reasons for this decrease.

“We have visited the CIQ together with home ministry officers," Bakhtiar said.

“We have proposed some solutions and short-term strategies to facilitate the crowd entering Malaysia,” he told reporters after officiating the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) fair here.

He said the CIQ in Johor was actually designed more for cargo handling.

Tourism important for Malaysia

The tourism, arts and culture ministry (Motac) is working closely with Malaysia's home ministry to resolve the Johor Bahru Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine Complex (CIQ) issue due to concerns over the situation, Free Malaysia Today also reported.

Bakhtiar also said Motac is targeting 28.1 million tourist arrivals in 2019, which will bring in RM92.2 billion (S$30.5 billion) tourist receipts.

He said tourism is a key sector of the Malaysian economy.

It accounts for around 14 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and providing employment to 3.4 million people.

“We hope to see positive developments in all outcomes (from the efforts to promote tourism) so that the industry can continue to thrive,” he added.