Too early to conclude on China tourists

Kota Kinabalu: Sabahans have been reminded not to be easily led to believe that China tourists are boycotting Malaysia but instead complement government efforts by enhancing the State's tourism industry.Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said it is too early to see if there was an obvious drop in the arrival of China tourists to Sabah following the two incidents - missing flight MH370 and kidnapping in Semporna.

"Personally, the missing MH370 did not pose direct impact to us compared to the kidnapping of a China tourist in Semporna, recently. Nonetheless, it is too premature for us to gauge the impact of these two incidents.

"In fact, when I was in a resort recently, I saw a number of China tourists at the hotel. Hence, I am optimistic and confident that they (China tourists) are still coming to Sabah for reason of being attracted by the State's tourism assets," he said.

Masidi was replying to a supplementary question of Klias assemblyman Datuk Lajim Ukin during question time during the State Legislative Assembly here on Monday.

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Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah Government continued its momentum in managing the economy in line with the commitment and spirit of the Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) when it posted record high state revenue of RM6.973 billion last year.

Nonetheless, Masidi said he hoped that any impact on the State's tourism would be temporary and that it would recover soon so that the State's target and visions could be achieved.

To a question by Kuala Penyu assemblyman Limus Jury, Masidi said his ministry has targeted 3.52 million tourists to visit Sabah with revenue expected to be RM6.635 billion this year.

Among the efforts, he said, is increasing air accessibility to Sabah, especially getting international airlines to the State.

"Apart from schedule flights, my ministry is making efforts to encourage chartered flights to Sabah which resulted in 262 chartered flights arriving here last year ferrying 39,517 tourists from China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

"Another positive move that has been done was during my official visit to Japan we met up with Malaysia Airlines in Tokyo and famous tour and travel agencies in Japan like H.I.S Co. Ltd and JTB Corporation.

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"As a result, a proposal to have a joint tourism package including having more direct flights from Tokyo to Kota Kinabalu and vice versa," he said.

Masidi said Sabah Tourism Board would be involved in more than 70 events through participation in tourism expos, sales missions and tourism road shows within the country and overseas.

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