Malaysia's magic move

Tourism authorities hope inbound Chinese will spend over RM22 billion ($5 billion) in 2016, Malaysian media report. Tourism contributed $3.18 billion to GDP in 2014.

Chinese visits plunged by nearly 5,500 after MH370 mysteriously vanished in March 2014. Over two-thirds of those who disappeared on the Malaysian flight were Chinese nationals.

Numbers never recovered.

The hope is they'll do better than ever following the visa waiver. Much better.

"Some (Chinese) people, when you mention Malaysia, think: 'I'm afraid. I don't want to go there because of the airplane. It's dangerous,'" says Beijinger Hou Kun, who visited recently.

"But I think, because of the visa, it won't be a problem for people (later). They'll forget the plane."

Still, Malaysia faces fierce competition from neighboring nations like Thailand and Indonesia that have seen incredible influxes of Chinese after relaxing visa policies.

But Malaysia has several advantages, authorities believe. Chinese is widely spoken in the country, where Chinese have largely shaped the culture since ancient times.

"It's a lot like South China," Hou says.

"You can find some traditional Chinese things there that are very interesting that have vanished from China but have been kept in Malaysia. They have a lot of the same habits as us. Also, the food is good, cheap and delicious, because they have a lot of Chinese there. Seafood prices are a lot lower."

Despite the dip over the past two years, Malaysia was still a popular destination for Chinese in 2015, says the country's biggest travel agency, Ctrip. The company's bookings to the country doubled last year.

Malaysia took the top spot among Asian destinations at the 22nd Annual World Travel Awards in Hong Kong in October. Resorts World Genting won Asia's Leading Themed Resort, while Pangkor Laut Resort was named Asia's Leading Wedding Venue.