Hotel business in Kelantan remains strong during MCO

The economic uncertainty brought about by the enforcement of the Movement Control Order (MCO) due to the COVID-19 pandemic seems to not have affected the hotel business in Kelantan.

East Region Tourism Malaysia director Hafiz Hazin said hotels in Kelantan are back in operation and most of them are keeping their staff, who carried out various initiatives to generate income for their employers, when their hotels had to close during the MCO.

"Some of the hotels carried out online food business to generate income during the MCO period as they could not rely on hotel bookings," he said when contacted by Bernama.

Hafiz said hotels in Kelantan also do not rely on bookings by international tourists to maintain their business, hence the closure of the country borders did not have much impact on its business.

"When the government gave permission for the tourism sector to resume operation and allowed inter-state travel, it indirectly gave a boost to the tourism sector with more domestic tourists arriving in Kelantan.

Meanwhile, H Elite Hotel general manager Hamzah Rosli said the hotel management took the initiative to carry out online food business to keep the hotel business going during the MCO period.

He said customers were given the option to either self pick their orders or had it delivered by food riders, such as Food Panda.

"With the online food business, it helped to generate income for the hotel since there is no hotel booking during the MCO," he added.

Royal Guest House director Raja Rusmin Raja Mahmud said the various incentives provided by the Federal government also helped to reduce the burden of hotel operators .

She said the Economic Stimulus Package announced by the Federal government under the Social Security Organisation (SOCSO), namely the Employment Retention Program (ERP) with financial assistance of RM600 and the Wage Subsidy Program (PSU) also helped hotel operators to stay afloat.

"Apart from generating income through online food business, the economic stimulus package and financial aid from the government were very meaningful for the hotel operators," she added.

-- BERNAMA