Drop in US tourists no impact on tourism industry - Mas Ermieyati

The decline in the number of tourist arrivals from the United States in the first quarter of this year has not significantly affected ct the tourism industry as a whole, said Tourism and Culture Deputy Minister Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin.

She said it was because the Malaysian tourism industry is vast and has various segments of tourism which can accommodate a drop in tourist arrivals from the US, among them an increase in tourists from China and the Middle East.

"The drop in US tourists does not affect the country's tourism industry because we do not just rely on or expectantly hope for the arrival of tourists from the United States alone.

"We believe it (tourists from the United States) will increase again in the second quarter of this year," she told reporters after a Raya Shopping for Orphans ('Shopping Raya Anak Yatim') for the Tangga Batu parliamentary constituency here, today.

Earlier, she had presented RM43,600 worth of Hari Raya goodies including new clothes to 220 orphans from the Masjid Tanah parliamentary constituency.

Yesterday, Bernama had reported that the number of tourist arrivals from the United States for the period January to March of this year dropped 12.9 percent, that is about 52,237 persons compared to the same period last year.

-- BERNAMA