KOTA KINABALU: Tourist arrivals from China have dwindled in the last few months allegedly due to the kidnapping incidents in Sabah’s East Coast.
According to Assistant Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Pang Yuk Ming, tourist arrivals from China was 80 percent in January this year and it dropped to 70 percent the following month (February).
Pang was speaking to the press after the closing ceremony of the 2014 State-level Students Forum competition held at SM Kian Kok near here yesterday.
By March, it has gone down further, to 50 percent and in April, 10 percent.
“We haven’t received the figure for May and June but it is obvious when you walk at the Gaya Street, which is the focus area for tourists that there are less Chinese tourists.
“Before this, the street would be packed and it was difficult to squeeze through, but now, it is void of them,” he said.
He said that those affected were accommodation providers, handicraft vendors and tour operators who have been complaining of the low arrivals as it has affected their business adversely.
And with the newest kidnapping incident, he feared that it would further worsen the situation in Sabah.
“We hope ESSCOM will increase its effort and tighten the security so that such incident will no longer recur. Eventually, people will start coming again, particularly with aggressive marketing,” he said.
He also called on the Federal Government to provide ESSCOM with its needs, either in terms of more personnel or facilities as well as monetary allocations.
He reminded that Sabah was dependent on its tourism income and that the tourism industry was the only industry that allows the participation of the community.
“Only a handful of our people are involved in plantation, and only a few are impacted with the oil and gas industry, but many are dependent on the tourism sector for their income – hotels, agents, and also the normal people, the food vendors, the village homestays and so on,” he elaborated.