KUALA LUMPUR: Shopping malls and retail businesses operators have urged the government to allow them to reopen and resume operations as many are on the verge of closing down.
The Malaysia Shopping Malls Association (PPK) said based on a survey conducted together with Stratos Pinnacle SB, it showed that a majority of malls had only between 10 per cent and 20 per cent tenants still operating at their premises.
"Sixty per cent of malls currently had footfall decrease to less than 10 per cent, indicating that footfall had dropped dramatically, ranging from 60-90 per cent.
"This drop was seen to be relatively consistent across various shopping malls," the association said in a statement today.
PPK said the survey also found 65 per cent of malls only achieved sales of less than 10 per cent to 40 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, indicating a drop of between 60 to 90 per cent.
"The above included the business sectors deemed as 'essential' by the authorities, which means shops not allowed to open would have suffered much higher drop in sales, basically zero sales whenever the shop is closed.
"The poor sales figure is further reflected by the drastic drop in footfall, fear and weak buying power."
It said most malls have been offering rental rebates to their tenants who are taking the brunt from the pandemic and implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) and the National Recovery Plan (NRP).
"40 per cent of them are offering between 30 and 50 per cent rebates, however, now there is a significant increase in the number of tenants who are unable to pay their rent.
"30 per cent of malls are unable to collect rental from more than 70 per cent of their tenants, the pandemic and MCO/NRP restrictions have inevitably caused adverse impacts on the overall sales with regard to tenants and their customer traffic.
"Almost 50 per cent of the total malls have up to a year of overdue payments owed by their tenants.
"With such severe limitations in rental income collection, malls are finding it difficult to preserve cash flow and 32 per cent of malls claimed that they could only sustain for a period of three months or less."
A total 94 malls across Malaysia participated, with the majority of 63 per cent located in the Klang Valley and suburban areas.
The survey was conducted from July 23 to July 30 and included a fair representation of neighbourhood malls, mid-market malls and upper mid-malls.
PPK said the government must re-strategise and accept that we are already in an endemic era and have to adopt living with the virus safely.
The association said it is unfair that the industry that merely contributed 0.8 per cent of Covid-19 cases, a record in May, continue to suffer.
It said vaccination privileges should be made immediately effective for all individuals who have been fully vaccinated allowing freedom to move and seek employment and work.
"Shopping mall operators have already taken a huge beating from the pandemic and lockdowns which have not been judiciously implemented and this has certainly resulted in less optimistic outlooks by mall operators currently.
"The retail industry contributed 34.7 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product in 2018, and needs to re-open and revive, being a significant player for the national economy to recover.
"The entire retail ecosystem has already been fractured and we hope, and pray, that at this stage, we still have a chance of survival."