GEORGE TOWN – The National Security Council (NSC) needs to review the likelihood of allowing children under 18 to travel with their parents when leisure destinations like Langkawi reopen their doors to visitors.
The island resort is set to accept tourists on September 16.
Former deputy tourism, arts and culture minister Datuk Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik told The Vibes that unvaccinated children are more at risk now due to the highly contagious Delta variant.
Unlike last year where senior citizens were categorised as a high-risk group, this new variant is easily transmitted among people from all ages including infants.
While a total of 51% Malaysians have been fully inoculated, a majority of those below 18 years old remain unvaccinated.
“I think NSC and the tourism authorities need to have comprehensive standard operating procedures (SOPs) to inject confidence among travel trade operators and domestic tourists. We need to fine-tune our SOPs to suit the current infection rate.”
It was reported in May that 48,261 children and babies nationwide were infected, with 47 of them succumbing to the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.
Langkawi restaurateur Oli Khalid said that the SOPs must spell out specific guidelines besides masking, crowd control, and hand sanitising.
“They must set aside adequate quarantine stations and medical staffers, as well as take punitive action against tourists who deliberately break the SOPs.”
In order to entice people to travel, Oli said that the government should provide some form of subsidy until the tourism sector is revived.
Yesterday, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri announced that only those who have been fully vaccinated, including those from states under Phase 1 of the National Recovery Plan (NRP) will be allowed to visit Langkawi.
Bakhtiar said that based on a recent online survey conducted globally, Malaysia is no longer on the top ten list of Asia Pacific travel destinations.
The Balik Pulau MP said that tourism will cease to flourish like it did prior to the pandemic.
“There is a need for the public and private sectors to work harder to revive the industry.”
Bakhtiar said that Malaysia has lost about USD$40 billion (RM165.6 billion) in tourism revenue this year compared with USD$30.2 billion last year.
“The loss column will probably increase as the country continues to suffer from Covid-19. There is an estimate from the ministry that up to one million workers in the tourism sector have lost their jobs including 17,000 tourist guides.”
According to Bakhtiar, the United Nations-based World Tourism Organisation predicted that global tourism revenue will drop by 70% this year with the sector expected to pick up by 2023. – The Vibes, September 10, 2021
