Crippled by COVID-19, vaccination kickstart tourism recovery

Exacerbating the situation for the domestic tourism industry was the spike in daily COVID-19 cases that passed the 20,000 mark early this year which saw restriction on interstate movement being enforced.

But it was not all gloom and doom for the industry, thanks to the government that marched on with the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK), which has helped not only to manage the spread of the virus but also contributed to the resumption of interstate travel, giving a much needed boost to the domestic tourism industry.

On Oct 10, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced the lifting of the ban on interstate travel after the COVID-19 vaccination rate of the adult population in Malaysia hit 90 per cent.

The government also worked on travel bubbles as well as the Malaysia-Singapore Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL), which is slowly but surely contributing to the industry as a whole and the recovery process of sectors involved.

The plan for the reopening of Malaysia's tourism started with Pulau Langkawi, which was first opened to domestic travellers as part of a travel bubble pilot project, beginning last Sept 16.

The travel bubble initiative was a success when the country's famous holiday island received a total of 204,953 domestic tourists from Sept 16 to Nov 30, with total tourism revenue of more than RM211 million, according to Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.

Domestic tourism was seen as a priority for Malaysians to travel at this time, in fact, it received a good response, especially in some locations that were the focus of tourists under strict compliance of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) as well as the directives from the Health Ministry (MOH) and the National Security Council (MKN).

Tourism packages offered by Tourism Malaysia such as packages for civil servants and government retirees were also available, where the response was encouraging after registering sales totalling over RM500,000 as of November this year.

To provide a further boost to the tourism industry, the Prime Minister on Oct 22 announced that Langkawi would reopen to fully vaccinated international tourists beginning Nov 15, through the International Tourism Bubble (Inbound) for the Langkawi Pilot Project, under strict SOPs.

However, the MOH has recently said that travellers from eight African countries are not allowed in under the travel bubble initiative following the spread of a new Covid-19 variant known as Omicron.

The countries are Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Malawi. Travellers from these countries are not allowed to enter Malaysia for the time being.

Following the success of the Langkawi travel bubble, Nancy Shukri later announced domestic tourism would be allowed again, tentatively on Oct 1, at three destinations - Melaka, Pulau Tioman, and Genting Highlands. The Melaka government however decided to delay the implementation of the travel bubble in the state.

Besides that, the launch of the VTL on Nov 29, by Ismail Sabri and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong will also further stimulate the revival of the tourism industry.

To prevent the transmission and spread of the Omicron variant in the country, the government has announced travellers entering Malaysia via VTL from Dec 8 are required to undergo COVID-19 tests daily for six days after arriving in Malaysia.

The new requirement also applies to those arriving under the Langkawi International Travel Bubble and One Stop Centre for short-term business visitors.

Still, the local tourism industry marches on, encouraged by the recent prediction of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) that the sector will return to pre-pandemic performance in 2024 globally, largely driven by domestic tourism activities.

Malaysia has also sent its message to promote the country as a safe holiday destination during the World Travel Market (WTM) 2021 which began on Nov 1.

It is also hoped that the National Tourism Policy (NTP) 2020-2030 which was launched on Dec 23, 2020, will be able to ensure the viability of the country's tourism industry and make Malaysia a preferred tourism destination worldwide.

Despite several hiccups along the way, Malaysia's tourism industry is expected to fully recover ahead of Malaysia opening up the entire country to tourism activities in January 2022 as proposed by the National Recovery Council (MPN) on Nov 11 to expedite its economic recovery.