A Blow to Sabah’s Tourism Industry and Leisure
Properties in Tourist Hotspots
Masidi said while it might
be too early to see the
full impact of the fallout
from the disappearance
of Malaysia Airlines flight
MH370 which was filled with
Chinese passengers and the
Singamata abductions, “it
would be foolish to assume
that there’ll be a repeat
of last year’s excellent
performance in tourist
arrivals in the state”.
First, it was the Pom Pom
Island incident back in
November 2013. And now,
with the second kidnapping
in Semporna plus the
mysterious disappearance
of the Malaysia Airlines
flight, the Sabah tourism
industry might see a dip
in tourist arrivals and
especially from China, which
is the state’s biggest foreign
market.
300 guests. And more
cancellations made by
guests coming to Semporna
have recently been made.
A crisis management
committee that was formed
following the Lahad Datu
intrusion in February last
year is handling the latest
hindrance just as it did
after the kidnapping of
the Taiwanese tourist and
more recently the MH370
situation.
Travel agencies in mainland
China have also reported a
sharp drop in the number of
Chinese visitors to Malaysia
following calls of a tourism
boycott led by Chinese
celebrities. Last year more
than 360,000 tourists from
China visited Sabah, an
increase of more than 86%
compared to about 190,000
the year before.
Assistant Tourism, Culture
and Environment Minister
Datuk Pang Yuk Ming said,
“The tourism industry is
resilient but we need to
soldier on and probably look
into other markets such as
Eastern Europe or Indonesia
among others.”
He admitted however
the effect will be felt in
the months to come and
pointed out before March
tourists from China made
advanced bookings at many
resorts between six to eight
months.
After the disappearance of
MH370 some cancellations
were made and Pang
said there was one resort
that claimed to have had
a cancellation of about
This could adversely affect
local business especially
now that the Chinese
government had issued an
advisory for its citizens to be
more cautious when visiting
the east coast of Sabah
following the abduction.
Two weeks after the
kidnapping, Dun Jidong, a
senior marketing manager
at Ctrip.com, China’s largest
travel booking website, said
that the number of clients
from northern China going
to Malaysia has dropped by
50%.
The Sabah Ministry of
Tourism, Culture and
Environment have
reactivated a special
committee to monitor
the fallout from the latest
abduction. Its minister
Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi
Manjun commented that
the abduction has made the
state’s Visit Malaysia Year
(VMY 2014) very challenging.
Last year, Sabah recorded
3.4 million tourist arrivals.
This year the target is 3.8
million, but some expect
this number to drop with
these recurring safety
incidents happening. China
is the third largest source
of visitors to Malaysia, in
which tourism is the sixth
contributor of its GDP.
Luo Juan, a senior analyst
with market research
company Forward
Information told the South
China Morning Post that
Malaysia was facing a
potential loss of up to RM4.2
billion in tourism revenue.
She told the newspaper
that she predicted Chinese
arrivals in Malaysia this
year would drop by 20% to
40%. This would represent
400,000 to 800,000 tourists.
Furthermore, to gear up for
the expected increase of
tourists Sabah was urged
to build more tourism
properties such as four-star
and five-star hotels. Besides
hotels, there is also a surge
of shopping malls to cater to
this influx.
The Sabah government
also has plans to increase
the number of tourist
attractions such as
the Tanjung Aru Eco
Development, plus develop
areas like the Kinabalu Gold
Cost along the west coast up
to Tip of Borneo. But with all
that is happening due to the
lack of security in the state,
how will this affect these up
and coming projects? Only
time will t