While Chinese nationals call for a boycott of Malaysia, tourism Director-General Mirza Mohammad Taiyab said he did not believe Malaysian tourism would be affected by the disappearance of Flight MH370 on route from Kuala Lumpur and Beijing,
"The passenger load factor has not shown any drastic reduction. There does not seem to have been any major setback," said Taiyab, according to the Hindu Business Line.
Meanwhile, studies find that Malaysian tourism faces a $4.2 billion loss in tourism revenue, as Chinese tourists look elsewhere to travel. Chinese tourists mark 12 % of the country's tourism revenue and, according to the South China Morning Post, Market Research Senior Analyst Luo Juan predicted Chinese arrivals in Malaysia could drop from 20% to 40%.
The South China Morning Post also reported travel agencies have announced a drop of Chinese tourism in Malaysia. MSN News reported the number of visitors have already decreased by 50%, according to Dun Jidong, a senior marketing manager at Ctrip.com.
Another travel agency reported almost no client interest in visiting the country after flight MH370. MSN News reported that the lack of lack of interest may be due to anger at the lack of information regarding the missing flight.
A travel agency also reported a drop in tourism to other Southeast Asia countries, including Thailand and Singapore.
Juan believes there may one day be a recovery of tourism in Malaysia, but she stated that that a surge of visitors to the once popular tourism destination could be far in the future.
"A recovery might only be seen after a year," she said, according to MSN News. Juan added that the true effect MH370 would have on the tourism industry remained to be seen.
