Most visitors are day-trippers from neighbouring Singapore but Malaysia is targeting bigger-spending arrivals from the Middle East, Europe and particularly China.
– MH370 anger hits China arrivals –
Chinese arrivals have soared, hitting nearly 2 million last year — seven percent of the total.
But Chinese anger over MH370 caused arrivals from the country to drop 20 percent in April, according to the latest Malaysian figures.
The China Business News reported Monday that concern over travelling on Malaysia Airlines, a major feeder of visitors to the country, has crimped arrivals by more than 40 percent since MH370, citing figures collected from Chinese travel agencies.
“The crash of the Malaysia Airlines flight (MH17)… has deepened consumers’ concerns over the carrier,” the report cited an official with China Environment International Travel Service as saying.
The official added that MH17 had led to a “large number” of new Malaysia travel cancellations “because a lot of tourists no longer trust Malaysia Airlines’ safety”.
Malaysia’s tourism ministry said in a statement it is “monitoring the market situation closely”.
“International tourists are definitely going to be thinking twice, thrice about flying on Malaysia Airlines,” said Jonathan Galaviz, a partner with the US-based travel and tourism consultancy Global Market Advisors.
Malaysia’s image has not been helped by a wave of kidnappings and other deadly violence on the coast of Malaysian Borneo, normally popular for scuba-diving and nature enthusiasts. Bandits from the nearby Philippines are blamed.
