LANGKAWI – National utility operators and local authorities need to be compelled to offer bigger rebates or subsidies to hotels that are struggling to recover from the economic effects of the pandemic.
Former Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) chief executive Reginald T. Pereira said utility companies such as Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) should consider imposing up to 50% rebate on the commercial electricity rate for hotels.
Despite the limited reopening of the tourism sector, he said, many hospitality properties continue to struggle due to escalating operating costs and lack of foreign tourists.
Now, domestic tourist numbers have fallen due to the resumption of the school term.
Speaking to The Vibes, Pereira said TNB can absorb temporary losses to allow hotels the time to rebuild their businesses in line with the industry’s recovery efforts.
Pereira is currently president and CEO of Aariana Hospitality International, which manages Tanjung Rhu Resort Langkawi.
TNB has allowed up to a 15% rebate to support the hospitality industry during the recent series of lockdowns under the movement control order.
Besides escalating costs, hoteliers have also lamented an acute shortage of workers because those who left the industry are reluctant to return because of low wages and a challenging working climate.
As a result, some hotels operated at half capacity due to the lack of staffers and to keep higher operating costs in check, driven by higher inflation and a need to observe the standard operating procedures.
Pereira’s counterpart in Penang, chapter chairman K. Raj Kumar, reckoned that a hotel with 200 rooms has an average monthly TNB bill of RM200,000.
He said hotels need to spend thousands more to ensure their staffers are protected from Covid-19, including property sanitisation, reduced dine-in capacity and higher cleanliness levels in rooms and public areas.
It was reported that TNB had declared a net profit of RM3.4 billion in 2020.
MAH, with 13 chapters, represents more than 900 hotels, which supplies up to 155,287 rooms nationwide.
It accounts for about 65% of the total number of hotel rooms available.
Meanwhile, Eric R. Sinnaya, a veteran travel trade operator out of Langkawi, has urged the Tourism, Culture and Arts Ministry to focus more on luring foreign tourists from neighbouring countries.
Emphasis should be on the likes of China (Hong Kong), India, South Korea and Japan, besides the Middle East, he added.
“We should reward those who fought hard to contain the virus. Their citizens can travel because of the sacrifices they have made, including in pursuing high vaccination rates.”
Unfortunately, traditional markets such as Britain, Europe and North America are struggling against the tide of Omicron variant, so it is best to wait a little longer before tourism authorities can begin to lure travellers from those regions here, he said.
He suggested bringing back chartered and direct flights in a bid to increase tourist arrivals. – The Vibes, January 18, 2022
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