Malaysia Announces Plans to Reopen Its Borders for Fully Vaccinated Travelers

The National Recovery Council of Malaysia made a proposal to reopen the country’s borders for fully vaccinated travelers by January 1, 2022. Prior to this initiative, the country plans to make certain destinations of Malaysia available for foreign guests. Starting from November 15, 2021, tourists from select countries can visit Langkawi, a popular resort island, and are not required to be quarantined for a specified period of time.

The creation of the so-called travel bubble is good news for hotels in Langkawi as the country’s tourism is suffering just like most destinations worldwide. Tourists arriving on the island do not need to spend precious days of their vacation at a hotel, waiting for the quarantine period to end. They are free to move everywhere but are required to stay at least three days in Langkawi. All tourists intending to visit the island should also take an RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) test no longer than 72 hours before their arrival.

Travelers who plan to arrive in Malaysia using its main air gate, namely, Kuala Lumpur International Airport, also need to take a flash PCR test after their arrival. If travelers choose to go to Langkawi right away, the COVID-19 RT-PCR test will be taken on the second day of arrival. One more thing to consider – to visit Malaysia, foreign travelers need to be insured for US$80,000 (RM332,000) or a higher sum.

At the moment, to be able to enter the country, citizens of the vast majority of countries need a written approval from the Malaysian government that allows them to enter. That being said, Malaysia reopens its borders with Singapore starting from November 29. A special Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) will connect two airports – KL International Airport and Changi Airport. Travelers are only able to cross the border using the air route, other means of transport such as the Second Link or Causeway are not available yet.

Starting from the end of this month, fully vaccinated travelers will be able to move between Singapore and Malaysia but are required to take COVID-19 tests instead of quarantine at a hotel or a stay-at-house note. The choice of the route is not random as Singapore – Kuala Lumpur destination is known to be among the busiest passenger routes in the world. In 2018, the route reached 30,000 flights per year.