SHAH ALAM – Malaysia has managed to attract over a million tourists so far, over half of the targeted two million international tourists set by the government this year since the border reopening on April 1, said Tourism, Arts, and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.
She said a large part of the total was from Singapore and it is expected many more tourists from Japan, Iran, and South Korea will be arriving in Malaysia.
“In the past two months, we received around 600,000 tourists from Singapore, and I feel currently we have surpassed one million tourists from Singapore alone,” she said at a media conference after launching the FireFly Airlines aircraft livery and #GoJalanLah campaign here today.
“There are tourists from other countries as well but we are unable to provide accurate numbers as we are still waiting for feedback from the respective parties. Suffice to say, we have achieved more than half of what we've targeted,” she said.
She said her ministry believes Malaysia’s tourist-friendly Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOP) are capable of attracting more foreign tourists to Malaysia.
“People like our SOPs because there are no mandatory quarantines, Covid-19 screening tests, and insurance, and it’s up to tourists to do so,” she said.
Nancy said the country's tourism industry still faces a shortage of workers after being severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Some hotel workers are afraid to return to work due to the uncertainty, so there might be another closure,” she said.
In addition, she said her ministry has yet to receive any confirmation of hotels that were forced to close down due to the impact of the pandemic, but there are indications that some hotels were shut down temporarily for renovation and some hotels are being repurposed.
On #GoJalanLah, she said that the campaign was a smart partnership between Firefly and Tourism Malaysia to support government efforts to boost domestic tourism promotions.
The #GoJalanLah promotion campaign offers flight tickets and hotel accommodation at discounts of up to 35%. Bookings can be made at www.fireflyz.com.my till June 30, 2022 for the travel period until December 31, 2022. – Bernama, June 4, 2022
