Penang's tourism sector hit hard by coronavirus outbreak

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus has heavily impacted Penang's tourism sector, with Malaysia reporting 18 cases.

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the state's tourism sector has been affected by at least 30 to 40 percent, especially those involved in travel tours and restaurants.

Penang tourism figures are down despite the "Experience Penang 2020" campaign.

"It may get worse if travel restrictions are not lifted.

"Right now there are travel restrictions and cancellation of tour groups from China to the rest of world," he said in a press conference after opening the new expansion to the Dialight factory in Prai.

Chow said 14 percent of Malaysia's trade is with China, a "substantial number".

The virus has killed up to 908 people in mainland China with over 40,000 infected, including 18 in Malaysia.

Bilateral trade between Malaysia and China rose to US$124 billion (around RM503 billion) last year - a 14.2 person increase compared to the figure in 2018.

Chow said Penang would like to obtain more feedback as there could be different types of disruptions and challenges faced by businesses in the state due to the outbreak.

However, these disruptions and challenges depended on the type of industries and services the companies provided.

"For example, a staff in the logistics company says he is handling much more work as business has not been diverted away but coming to his company, so this is a good problem for him," Chow said.

Meanwhile, Chow said the state is very concerned on how the coronavirus would affect the Malaysian economy locally and globally.

He added, Penang is monitoring the situation very closely and is looking forward to the Finance Ministry's announcement of an economic stimulus package to deal with the impact of the virus outbreak.

"We pray the impact will be minimal. We hope the threat will be over soon as a vaccine is found and we will overcome this together.

"Hopefully, Malaysia will triumph over this and continue to move forward", he says. - Mkini