KOTA KINABALU: The impact of the abduction of a Chinese tourist and a Filipino resort worker from Singamata Adventure and Reef Resort off Semporna will have a bigger impact on the local tourism industry than the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
Assistant Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Pang Yuk Ming said the incident would not only affect the arrival of tourists from China, but also from other countries such as Europe and the United States as well.
The two victims were abducted by an armed group by boat at 10.30pm on Wednesday. The Chinese tourist is 29 year-old Gao Hua Yuan while the Filipino worker is 40-year-old Marcy Dayawan @Mimi.
This is the second abduction incident in four months. On November 15 last year, a Taiwanese tourist was shot dead while his female companion was abducted by an armed group on Pom Pom Island Resort off Semporna.
Pang said 80 per cent of the tourists in Semporna came from China, most of them flexible independent travellers (FIT).
Following the missing MH370 incident, Pang said a resort operator in Semporna reported 600 booking cancellations which was around 10 to 15 per cent of total bookings.
However, Pang said the impact of the latest abduction on the tourism industry would be more severe, particularly if other countries issued travel alerts on Sabah.
He said there had been immediate cancellation of trips to Sabah after the news of the abduction broke out, as the Chinese consulate in Kuching had advised tourists from China to take extra safety and preventive measures when visiting Sabah, especially Semporna and other east coast areas.
Meanwhile, Pang said the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom) was implemented a year ago and still in the midst of upgrading themselves as well as their equipment, planning and standard operating procedure (SOP).
He said ESSCom was going to start the registration of illegal immigrants and planned to take down illegal squatters.
“All of these have been planned by ESSCom but time was not on their side; they did not have enough time to implement all they wanted to do.
“I hope after this latest incident, the Federal Government will give its fullest cooperation to ESSCom so that whatever ESSCom needs will be given the highest priority at the federal level,” he said, adding that he is confident the Prime Minister will prioritize this issue.
“The government should put their fullest effort to ensure our borders are safe,” stressed Pang.
On a positive note, he said the tourism industry in Sabah was more resilient than many other markets, having been through many undesirable incidents, like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the kidnapping of Malaysian and Western tourists on Sipadan island in 2000.
“I believe in the long term, tourism is still very viable in Sabah.
“Sabah is gifted in the beauty of nature, beaches, pristine forests and abundance of wildlife. With all this natural beauty, they will definitely attract tourists to come,” he said.
According to him, the ministry was doing its part to win back the Chinese market, which contributed 35 per cent of international arrivals to Sabah.
Last year, 1.49 million international arrivals to the State were recorded, out of which 360,000 were from China.
Pang said Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun had instructed the ministry to look into the means and ways to overcome the challenges.
Separately, he expressed his appreciation towards the Chinese consulate for their understanding of the situation.
Pang was at Singamata Adventure and Reef Resort with the Chinese consular based in Kuching earlier on Wednesday. He said the latter’s phone rang every few minutes with Chinese nationals asking about the situation.
The consular has said that it was still safe to visit Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan, but advised against going to the islands.
“This shows that while China is a bit worried about the security along our borders like Semporna, they are still confident about the security in our mainland,” said Pang.