KUALA LUMPUR – Despite engaging with local tourism industry players every week since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak last year, the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) says the government has failed to implement measures proposed by them.
Its chief executive officer Yap Lip Seng said it is disappointing that many of their proposals went unheeded, and were not even considered, when the various government stimulus packages were formulated.
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been engaging with government agencies and ministries. We are like a source of information to them, and provide updates on a weekly basis,” he said.
“Having said that, these (discussions) do not translate to actual support provided by the government. We are there to advise and make proposals, but what the government decides to do sometimes is quite far from what we propose.
“We see our recommendations and suggestions as falling on deaf ears,” he said during a webinar organised by the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) titled Post-Covid-19 Recovery: Building SME Resilience today.
Tourism is seen as one of the sectors most impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, incurring tens of billions of ringgit in losses last year, as movement restrictions and public fear over the virus affect the industry’s income and hamper recovery efforts.
Yap said while the industry welcomes any form of aid from the government, it would need more assistance in order to survive the coming months, especially with new lockdown measures imposed this month.
“We hope the government will listen more to the industry than its own ministries and agencies. They need to listen and address the actual situation on the ground,” he said.
Yap pointed out that despite hotels recording among the lowest occupancy rates in the region the past year, the wage subsidy of RM600 given per employee is significantly lower compared to many other countries.
With international tourism also not expected to pick up in the next year, Yap said more help is required to ensure industry players are able to survive with only domestic tourism, once restrictions are lifted.
He pointed out that in 2019, the per capita expenditure for domestic tourists was only RM432, compared to the expenditure for international tourists in the same year, which recorded over seven times more at RM3,300.
“We have been asking for a wage subsidy that is based on the pay level, for example a 50% subsidy for employees earning up to RM4,000 a month and 30% subsidy for those earning RM4,001 to RM8,000,” he said.
Yap also stressed the importance of political stability in the country, claiming that constant changes in government or top ministry personnel often lead to policies and plans going back to the drawing board.
“We have experienced multiple times that when there is a change of government or minister or anything of that sort, everything is back to square one. It really affects the industry and the entire economy,” he said. – The Vibes, January 27, 2021
