PETALING JAYA: The country’s international borders are reopening with relaxed restrictions on April 1 but hoteliers believe more needs to be done to revive the tourism industry.
Hotels are still in need of new hires and uncertain of whether the borders reopening will attract a large crowd of international tourists to resuscitate the industry.
Malaysia Budget Hotel Association national deputy president Dr Sri Ganesh Michiel said many hotels are lacking the cash flow to ramp up preparations for international tourists.
“We need the customers to come in first so that we have the money to keep the business afloat.”
“Due to economic impact of Covid-19 on the industry, we, the hoteliers are all like paralysed patients trying to walk again,” he said.
He said Malaysia still needs to build up tourists’ confidence level so that there will be more crowd coming in to revive the tourism industry.
Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Kedah/Perlis chapter chairman Eugene Dass said most of the hotels in Kedah and Perlis were fortunate not to have downsized its staff and will be ready for international tourist arrival.
“I’m confident that the association members will be able to cope with the arrival of international tourists as we had a fair share of domestic support,” he said.
He said the arrival of domestic tourists has helped hotels in the two northern states gear up in preparation for international tourists who will be coming in after the country enters the transition to endemic phase on April 1.
“We have the Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP) already in place in terms of sanitisation, checking-in procedure, vaccination verification and also mitigation plans if tourists turn out to be positive for Covid-19 after checking in,” he added.
He said the preventive measures in place can also help instil tourists’ confidence to travel.
Dass, however, said certain arrangement such as Langkawi being a duty-free destination should be maintained so that it will attract more international tourists to the destination.
Malaysian Hotels Association (MAH) chief executive officer Yap Lip Seng said marketing and promotions for tourism, both by the government and stakeholders, play a major role to put Malaysia on the world travel map again.
He said Malaysian hotels have already been accepting reservations by international tourists after the news of the borders reopening.
“Hotels are also working closely with travel agents and airlines to provide the best deals and seamless travel to tourists both for leisure or business,” he said.
Internally, Yap said hotels are well prepared with hygiene and safety standards such as the Clean & Safe Malaysia hotel certification by Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) and Bureau Veritas Certifications Malaysia.
“Hotels are also prepared to facilitate testing needs for travellers as set by the government. This will ensure hassle-free travel for incoming travellers,” he said.
Source : https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2022/03/11/hoteliers-do-more-to-revive-tourism-industry