KOTA KINABALU: Julinus J. Jimit, chief executive officer of the Sabah Tourism Board, says the province is prepared for some impact on South Korean tourist arrivals due to unpredictability in Seoul after a brief period of martial law was imposed in the nation.
When asked yesterday if the state expected a decline in South Korean tourist visits, he responded, “There will undoubtedly be some implications, but we won’t know yet how significant they’d be unless there is a total ban on travelling.”
However, in light of the most recent events, Julinus stated that his staff is continuously monitoring the situation regarding South Korean visitor arrivals.
The second-largest group of international visitors to the state are South Koreans.
South Koreans made up 145,731 of the 145,731 arrivals to Sabah in the first nine months of this year, second only to Chinese visitors.
Following political pressure from his opponents, South Korean President Yoon Suk-you broke down and decided to revoke the martial emergency decree he had imposed late Tuesday.
Seoul’s political climate is still unstable.
However, several regional tour companies said that they have not had any cancellations from South Koreans.
Since they claimed it was more of a political issue, they expected these tourists to stick to their planned itineraries for the time being.
A tour agent who wished to remain anonymous stated, “We believe that travel in and out of the country will not be affected because it is not a security problem.”
The majority of operators stated that it is too soon to say whether there will be a significant impact, but many think that once martial law is lifted, things will resume as usual – The Star
