KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia needs to start planning the recovery of its tourism industry, such as strategies to open up its borders to travellers vaccinated against Covid-19 once the movement control order (MCO) ends.
Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association (Mita) president Uzaidi Udanis said in its efforts to revive the ailing sector, the country should look at the best practices of other nations, such as Qatar, Maldives and the United Arab Emirates.
“We need to initiate a sandbox (experiment), where we can test specific destinations, such as Qatar, for example, before opening up to other destinations.
“At the same time, we should look at allowing vaccinated tourists to come to Malaysia without having to go through quarantine from October onwards, with bookings to be made only through travel agents,” told a press conference held via Zoom today.
He said Mita hopes that the National Security Council will give the nod to a domestic travel bubble after the MCO, with the related bookings to be made through agents only.
To ensure the industry’s survival, he called for an automatic loan moratorium with zero interest until year-end for tourism players with loan facilities before March 2020.
He also requested for a tax waiver to be extended to all travel agents until 2025, since it has been projected that it will take five years for the sector to recover, as well as another round of one-off cash aid for those in the industry.
Uzaidi urged the implementation of a special waiver on insurance and road tax, including the Puspakom fee for registered tourism vehicles, for three years.
“There are some 9,990 registered tour buses in the market. So, based on a minimum rental income of RM600 per day, these bus operators are losing about RM6 million a day.
“In addition, they need to pay a high insurance fee for tourism vehicles (tour vans and buses), which ranges from RM1,000 to RM10,000 per year, even though the vehicles are not operational.”
He said Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus’ recent forecast of Malaysia’s economic growth does not accurately reflect what is happening in the tourism industry.
Nor Shamsiah said the country is on track to log a growth of 6% to 7.5% despite the second MCO earlier this year, and the continued closure of international borders and interstate travel curbs.
“With the announcement of the third MCO, the tourism industry is almost 100% paralysed... there is no growth when interstate (travel is not allowed) and international borders remain closed. Plus, it has been reported that a few popular destinations, including Langkawi, have become ghost towns suffering huge losses,” said Uzaidi.
He added that a survey carried out among Mita’s 3,000 members found that the Covid-19 pandemic has forced 10% of licensed travel agents to close up shop and 70% of member companies to become dormant, with only 20% surviving and active with two or fewer employees.
In view of the high coronavirus caseload and fatalities of late, Mita called on the government to impose a total lockdown to break the chain of transmission.
“We know that it will be tough for most of us, but we are ready to sacrifice for the sake of the country and people. Once we are successful, we can practise the new norm of travelling, with strict compliance with the standard operating procedures,” said Uzaidi. – Bernama, May 18, 2021
