In the wake of the disappearance of flight MH370, Chinese travel agencies have reported a sharp drop in interest for trips to Malaysia, with some operators even cancelling already booked tours to the country.
Shanghai China CYTS Outbound Travel Service reported Wednesday that around 20 percent of its customers who had booked tours to Malaysia scheduled to depart on April 4 and 18 have cancelled their trips.
The agency also announced that it has stopped using Malaysia Airlines for all its tours, adding that those who had already booked with the airline had the option of a refund or the choice of another airline with the agency.
"We used to have 30 to 40 customers a month for group tours to Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. Now there is no one asking about this route or booking," an agent surnamed Chen from Guangzhou’s Comfort Travel told Reuters.
"Tourists don't even consider going there. Many also have a negative impression of the country now," he added.
Chinese visitors currently account for around 12 percent of Malaysia’s total tourists and 0.4 percent of the country’s GDP, Bank of America reported.
China’s public has turned against the Malaysian government following what they believe to be the intentional mishandling of information surrounding flight MH370. Relatives of the 157 Chinese passengers recently protested outside the Malaysian embassy in Beijing following Prime Minister Najib Razak’s announcement that the plane almost certainly crashed into the Indian Ocean, leaving no survivors.
The ill feeling toward Malaysia is so strong that Chinese travel agencies feel they have no other option but to distance themselves from the disaster by cancelling tours to the South East Asian country.
"The Malaysia Airlines incident involves national sentiment. If we go against the trend now, I'm afraid it will be provocative," said a travel agent surnamed Xu, who works for an unnamed firm.
According to a poll on Sina's news website, 77.5 percent of over 21,000 participants said that MH370 disaster would influence their decision to travel to Malaysia.
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