LANGKAWI – Federal and state authorities have been urged to come up with a rescue plan or risk having budget hotels on the island cease operations in the next six months.
Malaysia Budget Hotel Association Langkawi chapter president Datuk Noorazly Rosly told the Vibes that the island has witnessed 15 operators shutting shop, adding that more will likely follow suit as many could not survive the pandemic-induced economic downturn and Putrajaya’s movement control orders.
There are approximately 100 budget hotel operators licensed here, but a fair number go undocumented as they had mushroomed when tourism was booming.
Noorazly said there is a need to conduct targeted lockdowns and precision measures to contain Covid-19, adding that the people need to be better educated on how to fight the pandemic.
“This is not a make-believe number (of closures). We are in dire straits and need a rescue plan.”
He added that hoteliers also need a sustainable middle- to long-term strategy to revive tourism.
Noorazly said this after a joint declaration by 24 organisations and individuals here to protect the duty-free status for tobacco-related products, after it was disclosed that the Finance Ministry plans to revoke the exemption to check their widespread smuggling.
The group signed a memorandum, which will be handed over to Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, on the need to safeguard the status in view of its importance to Langkawi’s tourism.
A recent government study has revealed that Malaysia accounted for more than half of the global sales of illegal cigarettes in 2019.
An estimated 12 billion illicit cigarettes were sold in the country in 2018, comprising 62% of worldwide sales of the product last year.
Due to the sales, Malaysia lost an estimated RM5 billion in taxes.
The memorandum states that up to RM300 million in loans have been secured by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country, including in Langkawi. If their businesses are affected, they will be unable to service their loans, raising the threshold of non-performing loans in the private sector.
SMEs on the island number about 4,000, of which most are retailers, wholesalers, hoteliers, travel and tour agencies, taxi operators, as well as restaurants and hawkers.
The memorandum also spells out measures to alleviate the industry form further suffering due to Covid-19 lockdowns, which has sickened global travel since last year.
The measures are for the government to subsidise a one-night stay (for a minimum two nights’ stay) for each tourist, as well as to allow travel bubbles, extend loan moratoriums until end of the year and reduce the duty-free exemption status from 48 hours to 24 to boost tourism. – The Vibes, March 8, 2021
