EXPECTING a dip in Chinese visitors following Malaysia Airlines’ (MAS) missing flight MH370, the Malaysian government is targeting Singaporean travellers to make up for the “deficit” in numbers.
According to Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, Malaysia’s minister of tourism and culture, more than 60 flights from China to Malaysia have been cancelled since the incident in March (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 28, 2014).
Pointing out that the MAS incident has had “no impact” on the neighbouring market, Nazri said: “Most Singaporeans do not fly into Malaysia anyway because they will come in by car.”
With Singapore contributing more than half of Malaysia’s inbound tourism figures at 52 per cent last year, Nazri said the country is courting Singaporean travellers by promoting lesser-known attractions such as the proboscis monkey and the world-famous dive site Pulau Sipadan in Borneo. Singaporeans traditionally travel to popular destinations like Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Malacca.
As such, Malaysia implemented an advertising campaign earlier this year on Singapore’s public buses and tour coaches.
According to Nazri, the first quarter of 2014 registered a spike in Singapore visitors. From January to March, 3.5 million Singaporeans visited Malaysia, up from 3.2 million during the same period last year.
Nevertheless, Nazri admitted that the recent spate of kidnapping incidents in Sabah (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 7, 2014) has resulted in “another dent” in Malaysia’s tourism outlook.
“This has been most unfortunate and sad because the whole of Sabah has been affected although it may just be the East Coast,” he said. “However we will not be derailed by these incidents that are beyond us and we will continue to promote the destination.”
Meanwhile, Malaysia is also ready to promote the country to Chinese nationals again. Advertising campaigns were halted in the aftermath of the MH370 disappearance but have since been resumed, said Nazri.
