Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 incident may have sparked drop in Australians’ Malaysia travel interest

NEW figures suggest Australians have been turned off taking Malaysian holidays in the aftermath of the flight MH370 incident.

AUSTRALIANS may have been turned off taking Malaysian holidays in the weeks after the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 crash, new hotel figures suggest.

Statistics from online hotel search site trivago.com.au shows Australian searches of accommodation in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur dropped by a quarter in the fortnight since the plane went missing.

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And overall, searches for Malaysian hotels among Australian users saw an 18 per cent decline compared with steady levels in the 10 days prior to the plane’s March 8 disappearance.

The world’s largest online hotel search site, trivago compares rates from more than 200 booking sites including Expedia, booking.com, hotels.com and Agoda.

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However, Tourism Malaysia Australia director Roslan Abdullah said the organisation had not noticed a decrease in interest over the past fortnight.

“Our thoughts and prayers are for the families and loved ones of those that were on the ill-fated MH370 flight,” he said. “Tourism Malaysia’s travel industry partners are reporting that Australians are continuing to book holidays to Malaysia and that this incident is recognised by the travelling public as a very tragic isolated incident.”

Malaysia was the ninth most popular destination country for Australians in 2012-13, with more than half a million Australians visiting annually. The South-East Asian nation is aiming to increase its Aussie tourist contingent to 620,000 during 2014, dubbed “Visit Malaysia Year” by its tourism board.

Meanwhile, as Malaysia Airlines continues to receive a barrage of comment online – from messages of support to angry demands for answers – the MH370 incident does not appear to have deterred Australians from air travel.

Flight Centre spokesman Haydn Long said there had been no significant impact on bookings.

“This is a unique situation and it is still early days, but we haven’t seen any noticeable shifts,” he said.

“I think at this stage, people are more concerned about learning what happened, rather than avoiding Malaysia or Malaysia Airlines, a carrier that has a very good reputation.

“Overall ticket numbers have been solid and Malaysia Airlines bookings have been maintained.”

Jetstar spokesman Michael Scott echoed the sentiment, saying the airline had noticed no reluctance to fly among Australian travellers.

Feedback from Facebook users across the world posted on Malaysia Airlines’ page in the wake of the MH370 incident has ranged from praise to fury.

“R.I.P won’t be flying with Malaysia airline again though,” one commenter, Blackie Chan, posted on Facebook.

“Malaysian Airlines your conduct and treatment of relatives of this disaster is appalling and I will never ever fly with you again,” wrote Facebook user Simba Cameron last week.

“Thankyou MH for your excellent communication. I’m flying on Friday with you and I know I’m in good hands,” passenger Caitlin Hoey wrote just after the news of the missing plane broke.