Tour agents, travellers puzzled over countries on Langkawi no-entry list

GEORGE TOWN – Only travellers from eight countries are barred from entering Langkawi under the international travel bubble.

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin was correcting a journalist who quoted the Health Ministry’s (MoH) website, which had 24 countries barred from entering Malaysia.

“Based on the countries we have listed, only travellers from the eight countries we have listed are barred from Langkawi,” he said.

However, on the MoH website updated on December 2, travellers from the 24 countries, which were said to have been barred from entering Langkawi include nine countries from Europe, 10 from Africa, one from South America, two from Eastern Mediterranean and two Asian countries, namely Bangladesh and the Philippines.

On top of that, another 26 countries are barred from entering via direct flight to the resort island.

The list of 26 countries are: United Kingdom, Portugal, Netherlands, Australia, Canada, South Korea, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Nigeria, Belgium, Japan, Brazil, Norway, Czech Republic, France/Reunion Island, Austria, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Republic of Ireland, United Arab Emirates and the United States (California).

Despite Khairy’s announcement on travellers from eight countries namely South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi which have been barred from entering Malaysia on December 1, there is no change on the updated list on the ministry’s website on December 2.

This has created an air of confusion among those in Langkawi’s tourism sector who are afraid to promote the international travel bubble in an overwhelming manner.

Langkawi business development consultant Vinsen Chin told The Vibes that this differing number of countries allowed to enter through the travel bubble daily is confusing to both tour agents and prospective international travellers themselves.

They are relying on the media to get updates on countries that are barred from entering via the travel bubble.

Vinsen has received numerous messages from clients who have bought their flight tickets under the travel bubble to Langkawi.

He however, had to caution them of potential hiccups due to the rapidly evolving list of countries that are being banned.

He said the flip-flop decision has kept tour agents busy without achieving anything.

“Most of the current travellers to Langkawi are owners of foreign businesses and yachts who were not able to return to Langkawi since the Covid-19 travel restrictions last year.

“The only reason they are travelling to Langkawi is because they’ve been kept updated by Langkawi residents of the travel bubble,” he said.

The banning of countries under the Langkawi international travel bubble is due to the Omicron variant, which was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by South Africa last week.

The first Omicron case in Malaysia was reported today after a traveller returned from Singapore.

WHO has called the strain with a large number of mutations a “variant of concern”. It is deemed to be more easily transmissible compared to the much-feared Delta variant. – The Vibes, December 3, 2021