Malaysia tourism forecast for Q2 suggests growth revival in US arrivals

Tourism Malaysia has projected that tourist arrivals from the United States to Malaysia will see a growth revival in the second quarter of this year.

Its New York Office vice president Ahmad Johanif Mohd.Ali said based on the air-bookings manifest for Malaysia for June until August 2017, arrivals from the US are forecast to grow by 14 per cent over this year''s first quarter.

"This suggests that we will make a turnaround in the second quarter of this year. The April figures for arrivals from the US. have already showed that the downward trend has been arrested with a 9.5 per cent growth over the April 2016 arrivals," he told Bernama here.

Based on data received from Tourism Malaysia''s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, he said arrivals from the US. in the January-March first quarter of 2017 had declined by 12.9 per cent to 52,237 from the previous quarter.

Tourist arrivals from the US ranked 14th among the top 15 nationalities visiting Malaysia in the first quarter of this year. The top 10 nations accounting for tourist arrivals in Malaysia were Singapore, Indonesia, China, Thailand, Brunei, South Korea, India, Japan, United Kingdom and Australia.

According to David Andrews, an east coast tourism consultant, a number of factors contributed to the decline in arrivals from the US to Malaysia during the first quarter of 2017 which, however, would be offset with an optimistic forecast in the second quarter.

"Global political uncertainties and the outbreak of extremist violence in a number of regions may have generally dampened the mood of Americans to travel abroad but, in Malaysia''s case, the real problem is associated with the non-availability of direct flights between the US. and Malaysia," he said.

Malaysia Airlines discontinued its direct flights to both the east and west coast since a few years while American visitors prefer to take direct flights to their destination.

Andrews, who regularly compiles tourism trends, said passengers taking carriers that offer flights to Malaysia via their home hubs had to spend layover time there.

Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Qatar are some of the airlines that regularly fly to Kuala Lumpur via their home hubs.

Meanwhile Johanif, who Is expected to return to his Kuala Lumpur headquarters on completion of his posting, said the New York office was being shut down as a cost-cutting measure but the one in Los Angeles would continue to function.

"We will continue to participate in the trade shows here through our Los Angeles office. Besides, our consulate general in New York and the mission will also continue to help in tourism promotional activities," he added. - BERNAMA