KUALA LUMPUR – The Tourism, Arts, and Culture Ministry has called for an increase in Immigration counter staff and ramping up the use of facial recognition to improve the immigration screening procedure at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing said this is important to overcome long waiting times as tourist arrivals to Malaysia increase.
“The facial recognition system used by the Immigration Department should be extended to all international visitors and not limited to those holding long-term permits, to facilitate the clearance process.
“If Malaysia wants to welcome tourists and make the country among the most preferred destinations, we need to solve this problem immediately,” he said in a statement here today.
According to the statement, Tiong, on checking out the tourist arrival process at KLIA, found that tourists had to queue and were made to wait, some for almost two hours, for the immigration check-in process.
In addition, he also proposed that KLIA authorities consider stationing multilingual staff to aid tourists going through the inspection procedures. – Bernama, January 24, 2023
