China's 'Thai-Singapore-Malaysia tourist group' affected by Neptune incident

Chinese artist Wang Xing was "sold pig" in Thailand, which caused many Chinese people to stay away from "Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore tour groups", causing the tourism industry of Malaysia and Singapore to suffer a pool of fish.

Pan Zhennan, a consultant at the Kuala Lumpur Tour Guides Association, told China News: "(Chinese tourists) have started cancelling orders in the past month. The main reason is that Thailand happened (Wang was sold pig) incident. Many of the Chinese group tourists are Singapore-Malaysia or Thailand-Singapore-Malaysia tour, they rarely come out to play, they will go through two or three countries at a time. In the case of solidarity, there will be fewer Thai, Singaporean and Malaysian groups."

Pan Zhenan said that after Malaysia implemented visa-free entry measures for Chinese people, many Chinese tourists who used to join tour groups have switched to independent travel, resulting in a 20% reduction in Chinese tour groups. After the Neptune event, the number of Chinese tour groups to Malaysia so far this year is about 50% less than the same period last year.

He said the decline in Chinese tour groups also contributed to the fact that Malaysia did not experience a shortage of guides this year. He revealed that many tour guides changed careers during the coronavirus pandemic, leading to a severe shortage of tour guides in Malaysia in the years following the pandemic.

Although the number of Chinese tour groups has dropped sharply this year due to the Neptune event and visa-free measures, tour guides still have groups available, but they are not as overwhelmed as in past years, Pan said.