KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 — Tourists from the west are still flocking to Malaysia for their summer break and using the national carrier after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 went down over Eastern Ukraine, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said today.
Tourism Malaysia has not received information on any immediate cancellation of tour packages, he said but added that his ministry was keeping a close watch on the market.
“Tourists from western Europe, western Russia, as well as Scandinavian and Benelux countries, use this flight sector to travel to Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand on Malaysia Airlines (MAS), which is also a code share with KLM,” said Nazri in a statement.
The minister added that it is currently a “peak period” for the national carrier as holiday-goers often use MAS to not only fly to Kuala Lumpur but also to transit to other spots in Southeast Asia.
He said the number of tourists into the country totalled 31,945 for the first four months this year, a jump of 13.5 per cent compared to the same period last year.
According to the minister’s data, 427,995 tourists travelled to Malaysia last year from western Europe, and of that figure, 83,955 were from the Netherlands.
Apart from western Europe, Malaysia also received 107,541 tourists from eastern Europe, 548,729 from northern Europe and 109,447 from southern Europe last year.
The minister also expressed his condolences to the families of passengers and crew aboard Flight MH17.
The Boeing 777 plane carrying 298 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was downed by what is believed to be a surface-to-air missile allegedly fired by pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
Russia has denied involvement.
