Steep fall in tourist arrivals from China

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The incidents involving MAS flights MH370 and MH17 as well as the abduction cases in Sabah’s east coast had a negative effect on the state’s tourism sector.

According to Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun, tourist arrivals to the state especially from China had decreased significantly.

“The incident with MH370 had a bigger negative effect on Sabah’s tourism sector. I would like to explain how serious the situation is… during Chinese New Year this year, we received 67 chartered flights from China but so far, we have only received confirmation for four chartered flights from China for Chinese New Year next year.

“You can imagine the significant impact on the number of arrivals from China and although there is a significant increase in the number of arrivals from Europe, Australia, Japan and Korea, the number is not enough to mitigate the sharp fall in the arrival of visitors from China,” he said.

Masidi said this when replying to Elopura assemblyman, Datuk Au Kam Wah, who wanted to know just how far had the Lahad Datu intrusion, abduction cases, the MH370 and MH17 cases affected the tourist arrivals to Sabah.

According to Masidi, compared to the same eight month period last year, this year Sabah’s tourist arrivals of 2,156,973 was a 0.1 per cent decrease as 2,159,411 arrivals were recorded in 2013.

While domestic arrivals had increased from 1,425,711 in 2013 to 1,455,290 (2.1 per cent) this year, the number of international arrivals from January to August this year showed a 4.4 per cent decrease from 733,700 in 2013 to 701,683, he said.

“In 2013, arrivals from China contribute 33.1 per cent of the overall tourist arrivals to Sabah. Therefore, any decrease in this market will give significant impact to the international tourist arrivals to the state,” he stressed.

Masidi added that the arrivals from China early in the year had been very encouraging as a total of 153,768 had visited Sabah from January to April. However, after the incidents, the numbers from May to August dropped by 37 per cent compared to the same period last year.

He disclosed that a total of 266 flights from China and Taiwan scheduled from April to November this year were cancelled. The cancellation comprised 125 chartered flights from Shanghai, Shenzen and Chengdu and 141 scheduled flights from Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei which are serviced by MAS, Dragon Air and Hongkong Express.

“Based on the trend and tourist arrivals this year, we may have problems achieving our target of 3.52 million tourist arrivals this year unless there are extraordinary tourist arrivals in November and December this year,” he said.

Masidi also told the house that through his ministry and Sabah Tourism Board’s continuous efforts to bring tourists to Sabah, there will be four chartered flights from Japan bringing 1,030 tourists from December 30 this year to January 3 next year.

There will also be 20 chartered flights from Korea bringing 3,000 passengers from December 23 this year to March 3, 2015, he said.