Windfall for Malaysian tourism from China’s boycott of South Korea
Total tourist arrivals to Malaysia this year could jump by over 4 per cent compared to the previous year after airline bookings from China to Malaysia surged 72 per cent from March 16 to August 31.
This was after China discouraged its citizens from visiting South Korea, Maybank Investment Bank Research said on Thursday.
“If we assume that Chinese tourist arrivals for the whole of 2017 grow by a narrower per cent year on year, we estimate that this will lift total tourist arrivals by 4 per cent year on year.
“This figure could be conservative as it has not accounted for recent promotional efforts by the government.
“This development reinforces our positive view on the tourism industry,” the research house said in a note.
The China National Tourism Administration recently discouraged Chinese tours to South Korea in retaliation for the latter deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence missile system.
Business intelligence group ForwardKeys reported that China to Malaysia airline bookings from March 16 to August 31 surged 72 per cent, and ranked Malaysia as the prime Asian beneficiary from the move by China.