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The Malaysian interior minister's visit to China has helped to mend some fences in China. Beijing travel agencies say, people are not canceling their previously booked trips to Malaysia. But, figures also show that travelers are now less keen on visiting Malaysia, following the abuse of a Chinese woman in the Southeast Asian country.
The Malaysian interior minister, Azmi Khalid, has visited Beijing on a damage control mission, after an Internet video clip surfaced earlier last month showing Malaysian police abusing a Chinese woman.
The Minister did not make an apology upon the pending investigation, but has tried to assure Chinese people that his country is safe to visit, amid an upcoming travel peak season.
A citizen said: "I've heard about these abuse stories more than once and think they're serious. I'm not going to travel there for the time being."
Another citizen said: "They should make promises on security control. That's very important."
China is Malaysia's fastest growing market for its tourism industry. In 1991, the country was opened to China as a tourism destination together with Thailand and the Philippines. Since then, the southeast Asian country has seen throngs of Chinese tourists flocking to it every year, reaching a peak of 500 thousand annual entries.
But with the added number of tourism destinations, shifted interests of tourists; and the influence of the Asian tsunamis and Indonesian explosions, tourist volume has fallen back to 300 thousand a year. Industry experts say, the female abuse case could further dampen tourist confidence.
Lin Kang, from China International Travel Service, said: "Most tourists are taking a wait-and-see attitude. The incident could influence the tourist flow to Malaysia."
It is still one-and-a-half months away from the Spring Festival travel peak season, so current tourists volume to Malaysia is still not affected. But response on the street has shown that most citizens would not visit the country in the near future.
Most citizens say they appreciate the efforts by the Malaysian officials. But they should take more action to assure the safety of Chinese people traveling and on business in the country.
(CCTV.com December 12, 2005)
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