The September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 came as a major shock to the entire world. Nations around the world have since tightened up their border security in the name of stopping terrorists. Due to increased manpower and equipment required, airport service taxes worldwide have increased remarkably.

You might still remember the days when all air travellers were required to arrive at the airport at least three hours before departure time for security check-in procedures. No laptops, power banks and liquids in checked baggage, while small amounts of liquids below 100 ml such as lotions and perfumes had to be packed inside specific transparent bags and sealed before they were allowed to be carried into the cabin.

Any unidentified object left unattended within airport premises would be instantly disposed of by the security personnel. Perfumes and cosmetics purchased at duty-free shops in the departure lounge would be packed into special transparent bags and sealed by the sales staff before they were brought into the cabin. Inside the aircraft, unauthorised seat change was strictly prohibited, and I myself was reprimanded by the flight attendants on several occasions because of that.

More importantly, there have been noticeable changes in international travel post-911, and among them Western countries have been increasingly reluctant to welcome visitors from Third World countries, including those on social visits. They do so by tightening their visa requirements and imposing stricter checks at border posts.

I remember in that year when I was taking a group of 16 Malaysian tourists to board the Eurostar for London from Brussels, six of the group members were denied entry after being grilled by the immigration officials at the border. Perhaps they were suspected of working illegally or were potential terrorists!

As the leader of the global war on terror, it is understandable that the US has had the strictest border checks anywhere. US visas are the hardest to apply, with plenty of documents and personal interviews mandatory, all because they want you to forego your travel plans. If you happen to have the word “Bin” in your name, you could be mistaken as some kind of relative of Osama bin Laden, and you can be quite sure your application will be rejected.

Even if you eventually secure a US visa, you could still be thoroughly interrogated at the airport and be turned back.

As such, not many Malaysian outbound agencies were willing to take the risk of organising US and Europe tours. Luckily, such inconveniences imposed by US and EU countries had helped boost the inbound tourism sector in other countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, as well as popular northern African destinations like Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.

In fact, the September 11 incident 20 years ago did provide a budding travel agency like Apple Vacations a unique opportunity to exploit its potential in this industry.

I started this business specialising in ground arrangements for Japan. A year later, we worked in collaboration with Chow Liang to introduce Thailand B2B packages. After another year, Kent joined us and helped expand our business in outbound tours to destinations like Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong and Australia.

In 2001, many tourists turned to safer Asian destinations in view of the security concerns for US and Europe, giving Apple Vacations a significant boost and allowing us to make our first million in the midst of turbulence.

In 2005, we seized the opportunity to explore the Taiwan sector at the invitation of Nancy Lee from a Taiwanese GA agency. My second trip to Taiwan was during their October 10 national day holidays of that year. On the trip, I got to meet Taiwan Leisure Farming Development Association secretary Chiu Shiang-lin, allowing us to develop more diversified high quality packages for Taiwan on top of the traditional round island itineraries.

More in the Isshōkenmei series

(Lee San is Founder and Group Executive Chairman of Apple Vacations. He has travelled to 132 countries, six continents, and enjoys sharing his travel stories and insights. He has also authored five books.)