Double whammy for Malaysian tourism - first the haze, now shootings

Malaysian tourism does not need this - first it was the haze in June, then in July a spike in violent crime.

The first to react to both events were Singaporeans who accounted for half the tourist arrivals in the country last year - 13 million of them came into Malaysia.

Malaysian tourism officials shared their fears and are demanding that the government take measures to protect the industry, which raked in some RM60 billion last year.

Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents (MATTA), which represents some 3,000 operators, said it is a matter of time before the fallout from the violent crime has an impact on tourist arrivals in the country.

Chairman Datuk Mohd Khalid Harun said the escalation of violent crimes will affect the tourism industry but the number of cancellations is not "alarming yet".

He said while tour operators have not received enquiries of whether it was safe to come to Malaysia "it would still be best to formulate better crime prevention measures, not only for tourists but locals as well".

He said slowly but surely, the industry would see a decline in the number of arrivals as feared by Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz (pic).

"If more shooting incidents happened and news of them become widespread, I believe eventually tourist arrivals will be affected," Nazri said last week.

Singapore's Today online news portal yesterday reported that Singaporeans were spooked by the escalating violence with some of them altering or postponing their holidays to Malaysia during the Hari Raya period.

In the past fortnight, at least 13 such incidents were reported, including the high-profile case of Arab-Malaysian Development Bank founder Hussain Ahmad Najadi, who was gunned down on July 29 at a car park in Kuala Lumpur.

Today reported that Singaporean Lim Jiuan, 53, cancelled her trip to Malaysia following the shooting incidents. She and her family had planned to spend the long Hari Raya weekend at the Berjaya Hills resort near Genting Highlands.

"In the past week, there have been many cases of violence, so we decided not to go, and to remain in Singapore," she said.

Despite the concerns, many Singaporeans continued with their travel into Malaysia - as seen by the massive traffic jams, which started on Wednesday night and went on until Thursday afternoon - showing that the recent cases were targeted attacks.

The Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) president Datuk Mohd Ilyas Zainol Abidin said although the situation is not alarming yet, with no major cancellations in hotel bookings, he hoped the authorities will act on the current crime situation quickly.