KUALA LUMPUR: A new survey conducted by the UCSI Poll Research Centre revealed that many Malaysians opted not to travel inter-state in conjunction with the year-end holidays.
UCSI in a statement today said that the survey was based on insights from 1,289 respondents consisting of Malaysian men and women of all ages.
Of the 1,289 respondents, 63.1 per cent admitted that they did not have plans for inter-state travel while 36.9 per cent said they had such plans.
The long period of the Movement Control Order (MCO) is the main reason why some respondents chose to travel to relieve stress, especially during the festive season.
The 36.9 per cent of respondents who chose to travel said that the two main reasons were due to the flexibility given by the government to cross states and that it had been too long since they last travelled.
While other reasons include such as many promotions offered for accommodation, going for their annual holidays and to help spur the economy.
For the 63.1 per cent of respondents who chose not to travel across state, they consider the current situation as unsafe for them to travel as it may cause Covid-19 cases to spike even further.
"Other answers included too many restrictions and SOPs to be complied with to travel, limited budget for travelling and lack of confidence in hygiene and sanitation processes in public places," said UCSI.
The statement also said that the demographic results this time showed that respondents from the younger age group such as 25 years and below have a low desire to travel compared to other age groups.
Interestingly, respondents from higher household income groups have a higher desire to travel across state in conjunction with the year-end holidays.
These results show a high level of awareness among the public about the risk of cross-country holidays when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.