Drop In US Tourists No Impact On Malaysia's Tourism Industry - Minister

MELAKA (Malaysia), May 29 (Bernama) -- The decline in the number of tourist arrivals from the United States in the first quarter of this year has not significantly affected the tourism industry as a whole, said Malaysia's Tourism and Culture Deputy Minister 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 on Sunday. On Saturday, 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 per cent, that is about 52,237 persons compared to the same period last year. -- BERNAMA