Malaysia may miss its Chinese tourists after missing plane incident

In the Visit Malaysia year the missing plane Malaysia Airline MH 370 was the worst blotch that Malaysian tourism may have to live up to for the years to come. The search still continuous with little hopes of the

plane ever being found, tourists have grown worried about their safety as the Malaysian government has failed to show results even till this date. David Scowsill, president and chief executive officer of the World Travel and Tourism Council a trade association representing airlines, hotel chains, car rental companies, cruise ship operators, and travel agents feels that the reputation of the Malaysian Tourism industry can be brought back only if the story of the flight 370 is removed from the headline. Once it is known as to what has happened to the plane then life will move on and the thought of the plane will disappear from people’s psyche. He felt that the impact will be short termed and then things will get back to normal.

But questions are being raised on the ability of the leaders in overcoming crisis. The problems with the transportation are undeniable but the inability of the leaders to assure the families of the victims with results have failed tremendously.

The declines in hotel bookings have been revealed by a hotel booking site Trivago. There has been a double digit fall but the government continues to maintain a brave face saying that the tourism flow from India has remained unaffected. This was said by Mirza Mohammad Taiyab, director general of the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, who visited India recently.

He acknowledged however that there have been postponements from China as there have been  strong criticism from China about the Malaysian government’s  manner in handled the missing plane issue. Majority of the passengers in the Beijing bound Malaysia Airline were Chinese. The Chinese who are considered the largest globe trotters account to 7 percent of tourism in Malaysia. This will however reflect of the economic conditions of Malaysia.

The Chinese have grown as major outbound travelers and have contributed an exceptional 58 million trips in 2010.It is estimated that there will be 200 million international trips from China by the end of this decade. With such large numbers airlines like Hong Kong based Cathay Pacific have increased flights to carry Chinese tourists abroad. With their affinity to shopping they lend largely to a country’s economy. Chinese tourists in 2011 spent an average of $7,107 per person on overseas trips, compared with just $2,440 average spending by tourists from the U.S. With such a picture it will be hard for the Malaysian Tourism if the Chinese alienate themselves from Malaysia. The country needs to do some quick thinking in order to regain the trust of the Chinese tourists and get the flow back to Malaysia by ensuring their safety completely.