MALAYSIAN tours groups are facing severe losses because of cancellations from Chinese visitors as a result of travel bans to contain the Wuhan virus outbreak.

China has imposed total and partial lockdowns on 15 cities affecting about 57 million people as the government races to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

And Malaysia is one of the countries affected by this lockdown as about 80% of Chinese tour groups have cancelled their reservations here, tour industry associations told The Malaysian Insight.

The associations are also pleading with hoteliers and logistics companies to allow refunds from these cancellations, said Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association (Mita) chairman Uzaidi Udani.

The industry was expecting about 400,000 arrivals from China between January 25 and 29 but because of the travel bans, 80% have cancelled their plans.

“As of February 1, there are no appointments from Chinese tour groups,” Uzaidi told The Malaysian Insight.

Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association (MCTA) president Albert Tan Sam Soon said the last tour groups from China arrived in Malaysia on January 23 and 24.

No tour groups came starting on Monday.

Malaysia is among a handful of nations trying to contain an outbreak of the novel coronavirus from Wuhan province in China that has infected more than 4,000 and killed more than 106 in China.

Putrajaya confirmed that Malaysia has four cases, all of them Chinese nationals, who entered the country on holiday.

Uzaidi said industry players will be meeting the Tourism Ministry to discuss the situation and ask for assistance to deal with losses from the cancellations.

More than 100 tour groups have been cancelled, affecting 60 travel agencies and 20 tour bus operators.

Tan of MCTA said affected travel agencies are currently busy discussing possible refunds with hotels, tour bus companies and restaurants.

“Some hoteliers have agreed to refunds, some are willing to accommodate and hold the reserved rooms until tourists can return to Malaysia.”

MCTA and MITA were confident that tourists will return to Malaysia once the outbreak clears.

Tourism Minister Mohammadin Ketapi in his first comments on the issue yesterday said he was confident that Malaysia can still achieve its target of 30 million visitors in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year 2020.

“The target is still 30 million. If there’s a small impact, it will be from Wuhan. But Australians or the English will still come.

“If we are affected, it’s only a little bit but we still have enough strategies to achieve this target,” said Mohammadin.

The virus has caused global concern because of its similarity to the SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, pathogen, which killed hundreds across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002 and 2003. – January 29, 2020.