Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii
It is business as usual for Malaysian agents selling US travel products even as America’s president-elect Donald Trump, known for his harsh stance against Muslims, begins to take over administration of the White House.
Desmond Lee, group managing director of Apple Vacations & Conventions, which has an incentive group of 25 people of mixed religions from Malaysia, including Muslims, travelling to the West coast of the US for nine days later this month, said there are no concerns over safety issues from his clients.
He added that departures for December series tours to the American West Coast and Hawaii continues as normal and there are no worries voiced from his tour members, some of whom belong to the Islamic faith.
Abdul Rahman Mohamed, general manager of Mayflower Holidays, said: “Donald Trump’s speeches about banning Muslims from the US might just be campaign rhetoric with no truth in it. We’ll have to wait and see if the new government (actually puts in place those policies). (For now), it is still too early to predict demand for the first half of 2017.”
He comments that other factors such as currency will play a bigger role. “I think a large part of the decision making will depend on the exchange rate. The US dollar is four times the value of the ringgit which prohibits many from choosing to holiday there. The total cost of travel in the US is also much higher than holidaying within Asia,” he said.
He added, however, that forward bookings may be affected as many Malaysians intending to go to the US for a holiday in the near future will be closely monitoring the political situation in the country for calm before making a concrete decision to travel there.
