LANGKAWI – The resort island of Langkawi is now among the first localities in the country set to achieve herd immunity, with 30% of its estimated 76,000-strong population having been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as of Saturday.
Ayer Hangat rep Datuk Juhari Bulat said he is optimistic that between 70% and 80% of the population will be fully vaccinated under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme by next month.
This would pave the way for Langkawi to be open to tourists who are also fully vaccinated by September, he told The Vibes.
It was recently reported that two other holiday islands in the region – Phuket in Thailand and Bali in Indonesia – have been working on reopening their gates to international visitors who have been fully inoculated.
Under the Phuket Sandbox scheme launched on July 1, vaccinated foreign tourists will be allowed to visit the island without quarantine. However, they must stay there for 14 days before travelling to other Thai provinces.
Three other Thai islands – Samui, Tao and Phangan – have also welcomed visitors as part of the kingdom’s push to revive its battered tourism industry.
Authorities in Bali, however, have deferred plans to reopen the island this month to vaccinated tourists due to the growing Covid-19 cases there.
Thus far, some 30% of locals in Langkawi have been administered both jab doses, and up to 60% have had their first shots, said Juhari.
He still expressed the need for caution, as the island seems to be unable to eradicate new infections for now.
There are currently three vaccination centres set up on the island, including the largest one at the Langkawi International Convention Centre, which can administer up to 3,000 jabs daily.
Both Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor and federal Tourism, Culture and Arts Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri launched the centre to symbolically mark the return of Langkawi as the nation’s leading tourism destination.
Together with the ones at the Langkawi Sports Complex and Padang Matsirat clinic, the island’s vaccination capacity is up to 4,000 doses daily.
Meanwhile, local tourism players Define International Sdn Bhd and Tropical Charters Sdn Bhd have pooled their resources to build a digital site to facilitate promotions and tourist arrivals, especially for post-pandemic days.
They have become the first travel entities in the country to offer packages to double-dosed Malaysians, with the hope that this can nurse the industry back to health after tourism reportedly lost up to RM25 billion in value last year due to Covid-19.
In a statement, Andrew Anthony and Datuk Issac Alexander, who co-founded the initiative, said the site is an incentive to lure vaccinated domestic holidaymakers to various destinations in the country with attractive packages and tourism experiences.
For starters, the packages are based in Langkawi in anticipation of the island potentially being the first to achieve herd immunity, said the duo.
The special packages offered are valid until March 2022 for now. – The Vibes, July 20, 2021
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