KUCHING: Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture (MOTAC) Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing has submitted a proposal to the Minister of Home Affairs to increase the number of immigration checkpoints at international airports from the current four to six.
He said that this is in order to accommodate the large flow of passengers, including at Kuala Lumpur Airport 2 (KLIA2).
“Currently, there are 40 immigration counters, but only 20 counters are open. Hence, I also request the consideration of the KDN to open all 40 counters to shorten the time of the immigration inspection process for a large number of passengers and flights,” he said in his Facebook post.
Tiong also said that the issue of flight frequency has not yet fully recovered, and now there is also the issue of congestion at the immigration check counter.
“Imagine, if the flight schedule is fully restored in the near future, the situation will definitely get worse.
“Furthermore, there were also some passengers who complained that they were stranded at the airport for three hours. In my opinion, these counters should be added to increase the service at the country’s entry and exit gates,” he pointed out.
At the same time, the Bintulu MP also called upon relevant departments and agencies to work together in finding solutions to improve and shorten the time during this inspection process.
“We must realise that the tourism sector is the key to the recovery of the country’s economy, and the airport is the first location that tourists will pass through when they arrive in this country.
“Therefore, the improvement of these systems and processes is an urgent need. Not only that, related services and standards, toilet cleanliness and so on needs to be improved as well,” said Tiong.
