Restoring tourist confidence and travel intentions after disasters: some insights from a rejoinder to a series of unfortunate events in Malaysian tourism

Abstract

Many countries face a decline in tourist confidence and reduced travel intentions after disasters. However, Malaysia – a country that experienced a series of aviation tragedies throughout 2014 – encountered an overall increase in inbound tourists and monetary receipts. This article more closely examines the effects of these unfortunate events on Malaysian tourism and identifies several strategic avenues that can contribute to restoring tourist confidence and reigniting tourist interest in travelling to disaster-stricken countries.

Keywords:

• Malaysian tourism
• aviation
• disaster
• tragedy
• tourist arrivals
• monetary receipts
• tourist confidence
• travel intention

Acknowledgment

The author is especially grateful to the anonymous reviewers and the editors for their helpful comments, which improved the quality of the paper. The author also thanks Tourism Malaysia for assistance in data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Although the tourism ministry initially postponed all tourism-related promotions, to give due respect to those who suffered from the tragic air accidents (South-South Information Gateway, 2014), the collection of news reports presented herein suggests that the postponement was only for a relatively short period and that extensive marketing activities were conducted to prevent a decline in performance of travel and tourism in Malaysia.