KOTA KINABALU – Tour and hotel operators in Sabah have begun their recruitment drive in light of Malaysia’s border reopening tomorrow on April 1.
Sabah Association of Tour Operators and Agents president Datuk Winston Liaw said members are engaging their former workers as the local industry predicts an increase in tourist arrivals by May.
“Although operators have started to recruit their former workers, many of them have shifted to other fields.
“But we are seeing tourist arrivals around 70% or 80% of pre-Covid era levels and in time, they will return to the tourism line again,” he told The Vibes, today.
According to Sabah Hotel Association president Hafizan Wong, hiring is being done gradually to cater to the business volume as it slowly increases.
“The focus of our hiring will mostly be on catering to and filling needed vacant positions. We are also hiring to replace outgoing employees venturing for better opportunities out there,” he said.
Hotels and tour operators have been actively hiring workers since domestic tourism reactivated earlier in the year.
They say more recruitments are expected after the border reopens April 1, a positive sign for the industry which had been hit by a string of lay-offs and business foreclosures due to the two-year pandemic and resulting travel disruptions.
In Sabah, the services and hospitality industry usually hires only locals, while the state’s plantation and construction sectors rely heavily on migrant workers.
Unemployment in the state stood at 9% or 184,200 people in the fourth quarter of last year. – The Vibes, March 31, 2022
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