Bangkok blast: Minimal impact on Malaysian tourism

He told Sin Chew Daily foreign tourists to Asia would normally visit Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, and the bombing incident in Bangkok might perhaps force them to modify their itineraries by turning to Malaysia or Singapore instead. He said security was of primary concern to tourists and as such what took place in the Thai capital would definitely affect the tourism industry of that country. Wee, who was in Bangkok when the incident took place, said he was in Thailand to get the local travel agencies to encourage more Thai nationals to visit Malaysia. However, as his meeting with Thai travel agencies ended before the bombing, the incident was not in their discussion. 

Wee stressed that tourism industry was of utmost importance to the Malaysian economy, and he hoped such incident would not happen here in Malaysia. 

 

Meanwhile, Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association (MCTA) honorary secretary Nelson Lee said the bombing in Bangkok would definitely affect Malaysia's tourism industry, especially tourists from China. When contacted by Sin Chew Daily, Lee said the incident would also affect Malaysians planning to visit Thailand although he couldn't tell for sure how big the impact would be. "The incident happened at a very popular tourist destination Erawan Shrine, and will most positively affect the tourism there." Southeast Asia (mainly Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore) is the top destination for Chinese tourists, after Hong Kong and Macau. As for Malaysian tourists to Thailand, the most favorite destinations are Bangkok, Pattaya and Hua Hin, which will very likely be affected by yesterday's bombing. As for Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, the impact will be minimal since they are far from the capital, according to Lee. He said it was still premature to speculate on possible cancelations on Thai tours as the incident took place only less than 14 hours ago. There are still doubts surrounding the bombing as no one has so far claimed responsibility. In addition, the motive of the perpetrators is unclear and no one can be sure whether there will be more bombings coming up next. As such, it is believed that many will stay away from Bangkok in near future. 

 

Lee nevertheless admitted that Thailand had the advantage of being able to cushion the impact of past incidents quite well, be they political upheavals or explosions. He said this could be largely attributed to the general perception that coup d'êtats were rather common in Thailand and it would take no more than two or three months for tourists to throng back to the kingdom again. "We still need to observe the developments over the next several days, whether there will be minor explosions. "If there are more bombings, the impact will be more far-fetching, and will very likely affect the MATTA Fair slated for September 4 to 6." Lee said Malaysia's tourism industry was already quite vulnerable now and any further disturbances would only hurt the local tourism industry more. - See more at: http://www.mysinchew.com/node/110931#sthash.zWFH7s1V.dpuf