Motac calls for additional immigration staff at KLIA

KUALA LUMPUR - The Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry has called for an increase in the number of immigration counter staff and ramping up the use of facial recognition to improve immigration screening procedure at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

Its minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing said this was important to overcome the problem of long waiting time following the increasing number of tourists coming into Malaysia.

"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 destination, 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 make it easier for tourists when going through the inspection procedures. - BERNAMA