No directive to disallow foreign tourists from staying in hotels

 

There is no directive from the government or hotel associations to disallow foreign tourists from staying in any of the hotels in the country during the conditional movement control order (MCO) period to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Malaysian Budget Hotels Association (MyBHA) president Emmy Suraya Hussein said this, however, depended on the hotel operators and to the best of her knowledge, no hotel had set a policy that only local tourists were allowed to stay.

“The matter is subjective because we could not control the hotel operators during the MCO period starting March 18, (when foreign tourists) were not allowed to stay but throughout the conditional MCO, it was not an issue.

“We welcome guests to stay unless they do not follow the standard operating procedure (SOP) set by the Health Ministry, have Covid-19 symptoms, are not wearing a face mask, et cetera,” she told Bernama today.

This was in response to a video on an incident where a foreign tourist couple was denied accommodation at a hotel in Seremban that they had booked on an online platform.

In the video uploaded on YouTube yesterday, the couple, believed to be popular YouTube personalities, claimed that they had been in Malaysia since January for the purpose of travelling and promoting local delicacies and the country’s tourist attractions.

The couple who said they also complied with the SOP such as wearing a face mask and practising physical distancing, is now believed to be in Terengganu.

Emmy Suraya said the association did not receive any report on the incident and added that the hotel mentioned by the YouTube personalities was not among its 2,200 members and hoped the unfortunate incident would not happen again in the future.

Meanwhile, Negeri Sembilan MyBHA president A Suresh said he had received an explanation from the hotel operator which said it was clearly stated in the booking app that the hotel would not accept foreign tourists to curb the spread of Covid-19, which the couple might have overlooked while making a booking for Oct 11.

- Bernama