KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is bracing for some impact on tourist arrivals from South Korea amid uncertainty in Seoul following a brief imposition of martial law in the country, says Sabah Tourism Board chief executive officer Julinus J. Jimit.
“No doubt there’ll be some implications but we won’t know yet how significant they’d be unless there is a total ban on travelling,” he said yesterday when asked if the state anticipated a drop in tourist arrivals from South Korea.
However, Julinus said his team is constantly monitoring the situation on tourist arrivals from South Korea in view of the latest developments.
South Koreans make up the second largest group of foreign tourists to the state.
For the first nine months of the year, South Koreans accounted for 145,731 arrivals to Sabah, second only to those from China.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol had on late Tuesday declared martial law but by early yesterday, he backed down and agreed to withdraw the order following political pressure from his opponents.
The political situation in Seoul remains fluid.
Meanwhile, several local tour operators said they have not received any cancellations from South Koreans.
For now, they expected these tourists to keep to their scheduled trips as they said it is more of a political situation.
“It is not a security problem, so we believe that travelling in and out of the country will not be affected,” said a tour agent who preferred not to be identified.
Most of the operators said it is too early to predict if there will be a severe impact, though many believe that with the martial law withdrawn, it will be business as usual.
