SEAToday.com, Jakarta - Malaysia managed to attract almost 29 million foreign tourist visits throughout 2023. This number brought it to first place in Southeast Asia, beating Thailand which previously held that ranking.

Reporting from VN Express News, the most tourists coming to Malaysia are from Singapore with around 8.3 million. Then followed by tourists from Indonesia, Thailand, China and Brunei Darussalam.

It is known that Malaysia has implemented a visa-free system for 30 days starting (1/12/2023) for Chinese and Indian citizens. This step is the same as Thailand's strategy after Covid-19 to attract tourists.

Currently, Thailand has shifted to second place with a number of tourist visits of 28 million as of 2023. Meanwhile, Indonesia is in fifth place with a number of visits of around 11.7 million.

Reporting from BPS, the number of Indonesian foreign tourist visits has increased by 98% compared to 2022 after the pandemic. However, this number is still below the target, where before the pandemic Indonesia managed to attract around 16 million tourists.

Since late last year, Southeast Asian countries have been racing to implement more flexible immigration policies. This was done as an effort to restore the post-pandemic economy in order to attract more foreign tourists.