Suraya Ismail

Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences 

Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia 

surayaismail@unisza.edu.my

Influencing factors mitigate Middle East tourist travelling to Malaysia: The quantile estimates

Nanthakumar Loganathan

Department of Business Administration 

Azman Hashim International Business School

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Skudai, Johor, Malaysia 

n4nantha@yahoo.com

Dalia Streimikiene

Lithuanian Sports University, 

Kaunas, Lithuania 

dalia@mail.lei.lt

Tirta Nugraha Mursitama

International Relations Department, 

Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia

tmursitama@binus.edu

Abbas Mardani

Department of Business Administration,

Azman Hashim International Business School,

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Skudai, Johor, Malaysia 

abbasmardani@yahoo.com

Wan Anisah Endut

Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences 

Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin

Malaysia 

wanisah@unisza.edu.my

Abstract. This research examines the possible impacts of global oil prices, exchange rate and tourism prices on Malaysia’s demand for the Middle East tourists’ arrivals using monthly data covering the period from 1995 to 2017. We covered the 5 major sources of Middle East tourism to Malaysia in the last 2 decades, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. The estimates of the quantile regression reveal that the global oil price fluctuation has affected the Middle East tourist arrivals to Malaysia. First, we found that there is a positive quantile effect of tourism, domestic tourism prices and global oil prices with Middle East tourism demand in Malaysia throughout the estimated quantiles. Secondly, we could not find any specific influence of exchange rate and this shows that the fluctuating Malaysia’s currency is not a major issue for the Middle East tourists. Overall, this finding can be useful for policymakers while improving their future tourism planning and in attracting more tourists to visit Malaysia in the upcoming years.

Received: January, 2018

1st Revision: April, 2018

Accepted: July, 2018

DOI: 10.14254/2071-

8330.2018/11-3/12

JEL Classification: E31, F31, Q4, Z32

Keywords: Middle East, oil prices, quantile regression, real exchange rate, domestic tourism prices