KUALA LUMPUR: Domestic tourism expenditure is expected to be significantly reduced this year, from more than RM100 billion in 2019, following the efforts to contain Covid-19 through the Movement Control Order (MCO).
Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said this would likely be prominent during the first three months of the MCO as border crossing was not allowed.
"However, we do not have the estimate for domestic tourism expenditure as we have to wait until the year-end to see tourism trend," Nancy told reporters after launching the Fuel Penuh Gaya MyDebit Je with your ATM Card! campaign, here today.
The campaign, which was launched by Tourism Malaysia, Petron Malaysia and Payments Network (PayNet), aimed to boost mobility and encourage the public to spend and travel domestically.
According to Department of Statistics, vehicle fuel was second biggest share of the total expenditure made by domestic travellers in 2019 at 16.7 percent or RM15.5 billion as many local tourists chose to travel using their own vehicles for vacation.
"Therefore, we believe that promotional programmes like this collaboration with Petron and PayNet are able to drive the demand on fuel consumption and encourage the rakyat to travel within the country," said Nancy.
She said domestic tourism expenditure was recorded at RM103.2 billion in 2019, making it one of the significant contributors to Malaysia's economy.
"We are still studying on the quantum (losses) and collecting details while identifying the domestic tourism trend," she said.
On the timeframe for the government to lift the country's borders for international travellers, she said the ministry would leave it to the Health Ministry and the National Security Council.
"We prioritise Malaysians safety and we will continue to adhere to the rules. At the same time, we will still continue on Cuti-Cuti Malaysia campaign as it is synonymous with the local since we started the campaign in 1999.
"We need people to have the confidence to travel. Malaysian Hotel Association has its own 'clean and safe' benchmark for hotel operators. Therefore, people would not worry about travelling and staying in hotels," she said.
Nancy said 96.2 per cent of domestic tourists were estimated to have travelled using private vehicles compared to the remaining share of tourists who had used public modes such as buses, taxis and trains.
Also present at the launch were Tourism Malaysia director general Datuk Musa Yusof, Petron general manager Faridah Ali, and PayNet group chief executive officer Peter Schiesser.
Petron is the first petrol chain in Malaysia to enable customers to make MyDebit ATM card payments at petrol pumps without the pre-authorisation RM200 hold which was previously done for up to three days.
The campaign will run from October 1, 2020 until December 31, 2020, aiming to encourage Malaysians to travel via roads and stimulate local businesses especially tourism-related industry that have been affected by the pandemic.
Winners stand a chance to win up to 169 prizes including driving home the coveted Kawasaki Z250 ABS, Modenas Pulsar NS200 ABS, Go Pro Hero8 Black, Petron Miles Points worth RM500 each and one-year supply of Petron Rifer 4T Synthetic Blend.