PUTRAJAYA: Tourism minister Datuk Sri Nancy Shukri announced that with the beginning of the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) today, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC) will be pursuing a tourism and cultural recovery plan to reignite the domestic tourism industry which was adversely affected by the Movement Control Order (MCO) and Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) for close to three months.
Even though Visit Malaysia Year 2020 (VM2020) has been cancelled, she stressed that efforts to promote the country as a safe tourism destination will continue.
"I am happy and proud to announce that we will be reopening the domestic tourism sector in a safe manner, which will enable all of you to go and enjoy holidays with your dear families, and I hope that our tourism sector will be able to recover in due time.
"For a start, we need to play our parts by working together to help reignite the country's tourism industry and therefore make Malaysia a safe tourism destination to be visited in the future," she appealed.
Among the strategies that will be prioritised in the tourism and cultural recovery plan are the use of digital platforms to regain the community's confidence, faith and trust to travel once more, while showing that Malaysia is indeed a safe destination that prioritises cleanliness, health and safety.
MOTAC will also be implementing a few initiatives in efforts to alleviate the burden on the tourism industry in the wake of the spread and threat posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.