Tourism also took a hit due to the Mount Kinabalu earthquake in June, leading to 100% cancellations in reservations at the nature park, industry players told The Malaysian Insider.
Operators and shops also said a falling ringgit and the bereavement time over MH370 have helped to bring back people from the crucial China market, which at 45% makes up the biggest chunk of visitors to the state.
Efforts by tourism officials and operators to explain that the spate of kidnappings was limited to parts of the east coast have also helped woo back tourists to other parts of the state, such as Kota Kinabalu and islands on its west coast.
“The first six months have been negative but we hope to recover in the second half of the year,” said Sabah Tourism Board chairman Datuk Joniston Bangkuai.
Twin tragedies
During the peak of the MH370 crisis in March and April 2014, seafood restaurant manager Wong Kah Yong said he could sell only one or two tables per night for dinner.
The coastal capital of Kota Kinabalu was the gateway into Sabah, said Wong, and its main gastronomical attraction was its seafood, where eateries served catches that arrived the same day.
Islands off its west and east coast are popular for their pristine white beaches and colourful diving and snorkelling sites.
Sabah was a draw, especially for land-locked residents of China, said one tourist guide, because of its islands and the ease of communicating with locals.
It’s a reason they become repeat visitors who often bring new customers in the form of friends and relatives to Sabah.
Bangkuai said tourism brought in RM6 billion in receipts last year and that the industry’s spillover effects fed hotels, restaurants, retail outlets and food production.
When Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 en route to Beijing, Chinese nationals cancelled their trips in en mass to Sabah and other parts of the country.
Lydia Sham said when MH370 went missing, 50% of all reservations for her company’s island tours off the coast of Kota Kinabalu were cancelled.
And then when the kidnappings occurred in November 2013 and April last year, another 50% of the remaining reservations were cancelled, she added.
“We were hit by double tragedies,” said Sham, describing how bad business was last year.
Taiwanese tourist Chang An Wei was abducted from a Pulau Pom Pom resort while her partner, Li Min Hsu, was shot dead in November 2013.
Then in April 2014, a group of seven armed men kidnapped Chinese tourist Gao Hua Yuan, 29, from Shanghai, and Filipino resort employee, Marcy Dayawan, 40, from the Singamata Adventures and Reef Resort.
Island-hopping operators like Sham, were especially hard hit by the kidnappings because visitors could not differentiate between islands on the west and those on the east coast.
Operators like Sham run tours from Jesselton Point jetty in Kota Kinabalu to islands in the Taman Tunku Abdul Rahman marine park, such as Pulau Gaya, Pulau Sapi and Pulau Manukan.
But even now, misconceptions caused by the kidnappings continue to weigh on tour operators on the west coast.
“Don’t talk about foreigners, we still get calls from Peninsular Malaysians who ask whether KK is safe because they hear about all these kidnappings,” said a tourist guide who wanted to be known as Doe.
Hunting for new products
Visitors from China started returning in July and August this year, in conjunction with the summer school holidays in China, said Doe, who also worked for a tour operator.
“But it’s mostly walk-ins and individuals, we haven’t seen the big groups reservations of the past,” said Doe, whose company organised trips throughout Sabah.
Qalista S Dohny is also seeing an encouraging uptick in visitors to the small crafts and swimwear store she manages at Jesselton Point jetty.
“Last year was bad. But we are seeing them return since July. The weak ringgit has helped,” she said.
In a way, last year’s plunge in tourists has also exposed the risks of relying on one source country to make the majority of visitors or on just a handful of the same products and sights.
Yunus Sampeh, of Borneo Trails, said besides promoting the usual sights in Sabah, his company was currently promoting new draws such as Gunung Trusmadi, in Tambunan, which is the second highest peak in Sabah.
“The tourists are coming back but we also have to work harder and smarter to find new products.”
Bangkuai also realises this, and said the board was currently looking hard for undiscovered gems in its vast rural heartland to turn into products.
“We can’t all just concentrate on a few products in the city. The rural areas have a lot of promise and we can also help rural folk to increase their incomes,” said Bangkuai, who said he was working on turning parts of rivers into white-water rafting sites. – By Sheridan Mahavera
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