KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian tourism industry has come to a standstill due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) chief executive officer Yap Lip Seng said as of March 16, a total of 170,085 hotel room bookings valued at RM68 million had been cancelled.
“The cancellation of bookings represents the current impact caused by the Covid-19 but we are more concerned with the loss of demand for the coming months. We foresee that the losses will double by end of the year,” Yap said in a statement here today.
He said following the restricted movement order imposed by the Government, MAH has sought clarifications on hotel operations during this period, especially hotels with in-house and long-stay guests and as to what services were allowed for these guests.
“According to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC), pending approval from the Malaysian National Security Council, hotels are allowed to operate on limited services, which includes allowing in-house guests who had checked-in (before March 18, 2020) to stay until the intended check-out date.
“In-house guests however are advised to remain in the room throughout the restricted movement period. Other services in the hotel on the other hand, are not allowed to operate except room service. No new check-ins are allowed from March 18 to 31 for all, including local Malaysians,” he said.
Meanwhile, Yap said in the Tourism Recovery Action Council meeting with MOTAC, MAH also presented a series of proposals for the second economic stimulus, partly to assist tourism rebound but more focused on easing cash flow of industry stakeholders.
“Key proposals include reduction of employers’ contribution to EPF (Employees Provident Fund), increasing discount for electricity to 30 per cent, extending the discount for water, waiver of quit rent and assessment for tourism properties and also a monthly payroll subsidy for employees earning RM2,000 and below.
“We are also repeating our call for the Minister to review the rate of Tourism Tax to RM1 from existing rate of RM10, which is within the power of the Finance Minister under the Tourism Tax Act 2017,” he said.
He said the proposals were to address current burden faced by the industry, as well as to plan ahead mid and long term for tourism recovery.
Apart from requests presented to the Government, MAH was also pursuing negotiations with local service providers and suppliers to hotels, to extend a fair discount to hotels for this period.
“We are in talks with key vendors such as Astro, for a reduction in fees and discount for the period up to December 2020. Hotels are currently paying them for empty rooms and services not utilised,” Yap added.