Chinese nationals looking to travel abroad are now looking away from Malaysia following souring perceptions of the country and the bitter experience of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370’s disappearance, along with 239 people onboard, 153 of whom were citizens of China.
Eleven Chinese travel agents related to Reuters that bookings from China to Malaysia had fallen sharply, and many would-be tourists to Malaysia had cancelled their trips.
“We used to have 30 to 40 customers a month for group tours to Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. Now there is no one asking about this route or booking,” a travel agent surnamed Chen told Reuters by telephone.
“Tourists don’t even consider going there. Many also have a negative impression of the country now,” said Chen with Comfort Travel, in the southern city of Guangzhou, which focuses heavily on Southeast Asia tours.
Anger has risen in China over the percevied lack of transparency and efficiency on the part of Malaysian authorities handling the search and rescue (SAR) operations for Flight MH370. Following the announcement on Monday night by Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak that Flight MH370 had “ended” its journey in the Indian Ocean, with no possibility of survivors, angry relatives of Chinese passengers protested outside the Malaysian embassy in Beijing, demanding explanations from Malaysia Airlines and accusing the Malaysian government of “delays and deception”.
“The Malaysian government deliberately delayed publicising real information about the flight. We should punish this completely irresponsible attitude and boycott Malaysian tourism,” said a user of Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.
“Originally I was considering travelling in Malaysia this year, now I think their country is so disgusting,” wrote another microblogger. “They lied to everyone for half a month.”
The slump in tourism revenue from China and other countries could hurt Malaysia’s goal of bolstering its tourism industry, especially since it has heavily invested in marketing 2014 as Visit Malaysia Year. Chinese tourists make up about 12 per cent of Malaysia’s total tourists and 0.4 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product, according to Bank of America Merril Lynch.
Malaysia has targeted 28 million tourists bringing in RM76 billion in receipts this year.
Story: Reuters
