“We know only as much you know” said General Dato Mirza Mohammad Taiyab, Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board Director — here with his colleagues to promote Visit Malaysia Year and attract 100,000 more tourists in 2014 — when asked about the missing MH370.
“The show must go on. Business has to be carried out. Airlines need to continue to operate flights. We are very concerned about the incident and the government is looking into the matter with all seriousness,” Mr. Taiyab said in reply to whether it was the right time to promote tourism when there were five Indian nationals among the 239 passengers who went missing 11 days ago. “The search is on. This tourism promotion event was planned before the incident. We decided to go ahead. Accidents do happen. That does not mean everything will come to a standstill. The next flight [to Beijing] was full. We are here to engage with tourists,” Mr. Taiyab said.
On whether tourist inflow to Malaysia had been affected after the disappearance of the plane, Mr. Taiyab said: “There have been some postponements from China while tourist inflow from other regions, including India, is stable.”
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