Sabah’s booming tourism sector is watching in alarm as Chinese tourists dither over travels to Malaysia following the government's handling of MH370 disappearance.
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s multi-million ringgit tourism sector is facing an involuntary contraction barely three months into the now suspended Visit Malaysia Year 2014.
Already Sabah tourism officials and businesses that depended on tourist dollars are bracing for a downturn in the number of tourist arrivals from China in the wake of disappearance of flight MH370 on March 8.
Some 2 million Chinese tourists were projected to visit Malaysia this year, many of them on direct flights from China to Sabah.
This is about 8% of the total annual tourism numbers to Malaysia.
But this number was projected before the MH370 disappeared.
The handling of the MH370 tragedy has been badly perceived in China, culminating in a March 25 protest march to the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing by outraged relatives of passengers aboard missing jet.
The tragedy has made it likely that Chinese tourists would avoid Malaysia in their immediate travel plans, a spontaneous poll by Chinese internet portal Sina.com revealed.
As of March 25, the online poll found that 77% of the more than 38,400 respondents said the incident had influenced their decision over travel to Malaysia in the future. Another 19% said it had not made a difference, while 4% said they weren’t sure.
The Sina webpage also included harsh comments ranging from “the Malays must give an explanation. The Chinese people are not fools” to “never go to Malaysia as a tourist.”
The negative perception is a setback for Malaysia’s relations with China.
21% increase in arrivals last year
Less than half a year ago, Chinese president Xi Jinping made his first-ever visit to Malaysia to usher in what China’s state media dubbed a “new era” in Sino-Malaysian relations, as the two-countries agreed to increase trade and cooperate on everything from agriculture to energy.
“It’s a miracle that so many achievements have been made within such a short period of time,” Tan Khai Hee, secretary general of Malaysia-China Friendship Association, told Xinhua after the October visit.
The Sabah tourism sector recorded a 21% increase in tourist arrivals in January to October last year, as compared to the corresponding period last year.
Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Masidi Manjun said late last year that the encouraging figure recorded for the first 10 months of last year was an indication that the state could well exceed the targeted three million visitors by year-end.
A substantial number of visitors were domestic tourists with over 1.82 million from the 2.55 million tourists that visited Sabah as of October being Malaysians from the peninsula and Sarawak.
But a sharp increase of 307,325 people or 84.7% was also recorded for international tourists segment, with China and Hong Kong as main contributor.
There were also well over 200 specially chartered direct flights to Kota Kinabalu, including from Hangzhou, Shenzen and Shanghai in China, Kota Baharu in Kelantan, and Cebu in The Philippines.
Flight frequency from Tokyo and Perth also increased to three and two times a week, bringing the total number of non-stop flights from international destinations to Kota Kinabalu to 18.
Additionally, Kota Kinabalu is also now a homeport for Star Cruises Aquarius and the seaside city is listed among the “Top 10 Rising Asian Destinations” by TripAdvisor.
Growing fears in the Sabah travel industry that there will be a downturn of Chinese tourist arrivals has prompted the Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents (SATTA) to call on all airlines to lower their fares temporarily for a few months.
SATTA chairman Winston Liaw said the short-term strategy would benefit all parties without affecting the airlines in the long run.
FMT Borneo Plus
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s multi-million ringgit tourism sector is facing an involuntary contraction barely three months into the now suspended Visit Malaysia Year 2014.
Already Sabah tourism officials and businesses that depended on tourist dollars are bracing for a downturn in the number of tourist arrivals from China in the wake of disappearance of flight MH370 on March 8.
Some 2 million Chinese tourists were projected to visit Malaysia this year, many of them on direct flights from China to Sabah.
This is about 8% of the total annual tourism numbers to Malaysia.
But this number was projected before the MH370 disappeared.
The handling of the MH370 tragedy has been badly perceived in China, culminating in a March 25 protest march to the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing by outraged relatives of passengers aboard missing jet.
The tragedy has made it likely that Chinese tourists would avoid Malaysia in their immediate travel plans, a spontaneous poll by Chinese internet portal Sina.com revealed.
As of March 25, the online poll found that 77% of the more than 38,400 respondents said the incident had influenced their decision over travel to Malaysia in the future. Another 19% said it had not made a difference, while 4% said they weren’t sure.
The Sina webpage also included harsh comments ranging from “the Malays must give an explanation. The Chinese people are not fools” to “never go to Malaysia as a tourist.”
The negative perception is a setback for Malaysia’s relations with China.
21% increase in arrivals last year
Less than half a year ago, Chinese president Xi Jinping made his first-ever visit to Malaysia to usher in what China’s state media dubbed a “new era” in Sino-Malaysian relations, as the two-countries agreed to increase trade and cooperate on everything from agriculture to energy.
“It’s a miracle that so many achievements have been made within such a short period of time,” Tan Khai Hee, secretary general of Malaysia-China Friendship Association, told Xinhua after the October visit.
The Sabah tourism sector recorded a 21% increase in tourist arrivals in January to October last year, as compared to the corresponding period last year.
Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Masidi Manjun said late last year that the encouraging figure recorded for the first 10 months of last year was an indication that the state could well exceed the targeted three million visitors by year-end.
A substantial number of visitors were domestic tourists with over 1.82 million from the 2.55 million tourists that visited Sabah as of October being Malaysians from the peninsula and Sarawak.
But a sharp increase of 307,325 people or 84.7% was also recorded for international tourists segment, with China and Hong Kong as main contributor.
There were also well over 200 specially chartered direct flights to Kota Kinabalu, including from Hangzhou, Shenzen and Shanghai in China, Kota Baharu in Kelantan, and Cebu in The Philippines.
Flight frequency from Tokyo and Perth also increased to three and two times a week, bringing the total number of non-stop flights from international destinations to Kota Kinabalu to 18.
Additionally, Kota Kinabalu is also now a homeport for Star Cruises Aquarius and the seaside city is listed among the “Top 10 Rising Asian Destinations” by TripAdvisor.
Growing fears in the Sabah travel industry that there will be a downturn of Chinese tourist arrivals has prompted the Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents (SATTA) to call on all airlines to lower their fares temporarily for a few months.
SATTA chairman Winston Liaw said the short-term strategy would benefit all parties without affecting the airlines in the long run.
FMT Borneo Plus
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