Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the tourism industry pumped some RM86 billion into Malaysia in 2019, providing 3.6 million jobs across the country.Countries around the world raced against time to inoculate their population against the virus, and this has helped bring the number of cases down significantly.
Leong said although Malaysia’s current tourism sector is experiencing some recovery, the climate is still far from conducive to a full recovery. According to the association, before the pandemic, the average occupancy rate of hotels in Malaysia in 2019 was 64 percent. After the movement control order was implemented in 2020, the average occupancy rate for hotels nationwide plunged by half to just 32 percent.“We were expecting a better recovery in 2021, not knowing that it would end up worse since another MCO was imposed from January to October and interstate travel was only recently allowed," Yap said.
The industry hopes the government and Asean will discuss the establishment of more Vaccinated Travel Lane to unify the cross-border tourism policies of various countries, he added. “The VTL between Malaysia and Singapore is an encouraging initiative. Hopefully, we will be able to continue working with countries like Indonesia, Thailand and our other neighbours in Asean," he said, adding that more emphasis needs to be placed on discussions with other nations in the region.Tourism Ministry must lead
On the other hand, Yap said the Malaysian Association of Hotels has repeatedly suggested that the Asean Tourism Association introduce a single visa for Asean countries to attract more foreign tourists. Yap added that Asean as a whole is a highly attractive tourist destination because of the wide variety of attractions, cultures and natural heritage.
Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Nancy Shukri said with Malaysia on the road to becoming one of the countries with the best vaccination rates in the world, the Langkawi tourism bubble and VTL can potentially attract foreign travellers., Nancy pointed out that as of Dec 21, 2021, over 600,000 domestic and foreign tourists have visited Langkawi with tourism revenue reaching RM640 million.
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