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Tourism to Malaysia could drop due to MH17 tragedy
The Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 incident over east Ukraine could affect the number of tourists traveling to Malaysia, said Malaysian Consulate General in Medan Ahmad Rozian Abdul Ghani on Friday evening
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he Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 incident over east Ukraine could affect the number of tourists traveling to Malaysia, said Malaysian Consulate General in Medan Ahmad Rozian Abdul Ghani on Friday evening.
"Only the number of Chinese tourists decreased when Malaysia Airlines MH370 first disappeared, but the number of tourists from other countries was largely unaffected. However, we're not sure about the effects of this incident [MH17]. Hopefully, the number won't be affected too much, if we base our predictions on the first incident," he told The Jakarta Post in Medan.
Rozian explained there was no clear cause of the plane crash yet as neither Ukraine nor Russia had admitted to owning the ground-to-air missile that was allegedly fired at the plane. The plane was carried 298 people, including 12 Indonesians.
"We are still waiting for the investigation results before following up with the victims' families. However, we pray for the best in both the results and the families," he said.
Tourism director for Malaysia in Medan Nor'Asikin Harun said she was optimistic about the number of tourists traveling to Malaysia and predicted the number would reach 28 million by the end of 2014.
"There will be some effect from the incident but we will try our hardest and remain optimistic," Nor'Asikin said. (fss/dic)
