Tan Sam Soon: Tourism market not affected as Malaysia is still safe

China Press, January 18, 2016

Kuala Lumpur, Jan 17 – Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association (MCTA) president Datuk Albert Tan Sam Soon said he believed Malaysia was still a save country although rumours on terror strike were rife, the local tourism industry was not affected and would even continue to grow at the coming Chinese New Year season.

“Recently many countries had encountered with the terror attack which had affected their tourism industry badly, but Malaysia is considered to be a safe country at the moment; in fact the terror attack mentioned was only media report (rumours), for instance the notification issued by the embassy of United States and Australian high commission here on terror attack which warned the US tourists to avoid Jalan Alor in Kuala Lumpur not long ago, but eventually it did not happen.”

In a telephone interview with China Press in response to Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan’s claim that seven areas in Kuala Lumpur had been targeted by the terror group, Tan Sam Soon said with the media reports over the statement, he believed that police and the government would pay much attention on the security of the country.

Tan Sam Soon opined that as Malaysia is still a much safer country, therefore during the coming long holiday of Chinese New Year Malaysians would do their travelling in the country as it is more economical compare to travelling overseas now; moreover, nowadays almost every family can afford to own a car, thus domestic tourism was still growing.

“As long as you are able to book the hotel room, you can travel to anywhere by car; in fact our tourism facilities are not bad, and also our people like to taste different flavor of foods, therefore the domestic tourism will continue to grow this year.”

He pointed out that terror attack in Indonesia would definitely affect the tourism industry in that particular country, resulting in some people changed their travel destination to some other countries such as Kampuchea, Vietnam and Hong Kong.

Tengku Adnan had claimed that terror groups were targeting Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Bukit Bintang, Sri Hartamas, Bangsar and malls such as Publika, Solaris and the Curve in Damansara.

Chan Hoi Choy: All shopping malls on full alert

Malaysian Association for Shopping and High-rise Complex Management advisor Chan Hoi Choy pointed out that shopping malls in the country had been in full alert and beef up their security and taking precautionary measures such as increased the patrolling.

Chan Hoi Choy who is also the chief executive officer of Sunway Shopping Malls & Theme Parks told China Press in a telephone interview that with the threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) drawing near, all the shopping malls in the country had beef up their security and worked closely with police force.

“Most of the big and famous shopping centers have strengthened their security measures, as the issue of terror attacks cannot be viewed lightly.”

On question whether the local shopping centers have get themselves prepared if terror attack do happen, Chan Hoi Choy said they were in full alert and would work with police to take every necessary precautionary measure.