KUALA LUMPUR: The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) is one of the key factors that will help in the country's planned economic and financial recovery this year.
Malaysia is set to kick off its Covid-19 vaccination exercise on Feb 26 and has targeted to complete three phases of the immunisation programme by February next year.
Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents honorary secretary-general Nigel Wong said Covid-19 vaccinations could help restore people's confidence in travel, thus reviving the local tourism industry.
Safety, he added, would be the people's priority, therefore, it was of utmost importance for the government and the tourism industry to work towards building consumer confidence.
"One way of achieving this objective will be via vaccination," said Wong.
Additionally, the government should establish protocols that would make it easy for those who have been vaccinated to travel, he said.
"The vaccine will definitely help instil confidence in people to travel and the tourism industry is hoping that the rollout and immunisation process will take place smoothly and quickly.
"Many countries, especially in Europe, are already introducing the concept of a vaccine passport, which will allow people to travel without the need for quarantine.
"To attract tourists to our shores, we need to ensure that they have the confidence to travel to Malaysia and that can be achieved by the government's ability to vaccinate Malaysians quickly."
Wong said the reopening of certain sectors, such as meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions, was much welcomed since it would spur economic activity even though they were limited to the domestic market.
"Prior to the announcement, industry stakeholders had already made adequate preparations to accommodate these activities within the framework of government standard operating procedures (SOP). The industry is well prepared."
The Malaysian Employers Federation was confident that free vaccination of all segments of the population, including undocumented migrants and asylum seekers, would help Malaysia achieve herd immunity.
Its executive director, Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan, reminded employers to ensure that the SOP was adhered to throughout the NIP.
"Throughout the implementation of the Movement Control Order and the Conditional Movement Control Order, businesses have been badly hit and were unable to resume operations in full.
"Last year, more than 32,000 businesses closed for good and more than 100,000 workers lost their jobs.
"So, we hope that the National Employment Council, helmed by the prime minister, will introduce more proactive policies to spur job creation in the private sector.
"We also hope the economic stimulus packages that have been introduced will continue to be implemented until the economy can fully recover," he said.
Shamsuddin hoped that the NIP would restore domestic and foreign investor confidence to attract and retain more high-value investments in Malaysia.
"We also hope the NIP will boost consumer spending and spur the country's economic growth," he said.
Bank Islam chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the start of the Malaysian vaccination programme would be the main premise for the reopening of the economy.
A successful vaccination programme rollout and the eventual herd immunity to be achieved tentatively by the first quarter of next year would mean that consumer and business confidence should improve as the rate of infection could be reduced over time, he said.
"When the reopening of the economy can happen in a convincing way, more businesses will be allowed to reopen and consumers will be able to transact with peace of mind. They will also have more options to buy stuff via online platforms.
"In a nutshell, the economic recovery will be more sustainable," he said.