Promote ‘workations’ to attract local tourists, hotels told

GEORGE TOWN – The “workation” concept should be at the top of the list of hotels promoting their services when the tourism sector is restarted, said former deputy tourism, arts and culture minister Datuk Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik.

Come September 16, Langkawi will open its doors to tourists, and promoting the workation concept is a sure way of attracting local visitors, said Bakhtiar.

The workation concept, a portmanteau of work and vacation, means taking a trip while continuing to work online. Trips can last just a long weekend, or several weeks, making the concept one of the most flexible remote work trends to date.

Bakhtiar said Malaysian hotels can promote workations to boost local tourism before the nation opens its doors to international travellers.

“The Equatorial Hotel is promoting the workation concept, which is expected to pull local tourists to stay in hotels and work from hotel rooms and poolside areas,” he said during a Zoom session yesterday, titled Tourism Opening in Asia Pacific.

The meeting was attended by stakeholders and industry players, who discussed ways to boost the tourism industry, which has been severely hit by the pandemic.

“What if we told you that you could work and go on vacation at the same time? Not possible, you may say. But it is a concept that can be applied to the current economic situation, to boost the hotel and tourism industry,” he said.

Bakhtiar said that even though vaccination is the answer to controlling the spread of the coronavirus, it is not the only solution.

Prior to the pandemic, tourism contributed 13% to the country’s gross domestic product, with more than 3.5 million people involved in the industry.

So far, Europe has regained 50% of its revenue in the tourism industry, something yet to be seen in the Asia-Pacific region.  

The session was told that the travel bubbles between Singapore and Hong Kong, Taiwan and Palau, and Phuket had opened doors to those fully vaccinated.

Hawaii and Guam have opened their doors to international travellers, but not Bali in Indonesia.

Across the causeway, Singapore is planning to open its doors to travellers from Germany and Brunei.

Malaysian Association of Hotel Owners executive director Shaharuddin M. Saaid said that the pandemic has forced the closure of a total of 120 major hotels in the country.

Singapore-based APAC Group also participated in the meeting. – The Vibes, September 7, 2021