Surge in hotel reservations until June - Nancy Shukri

CORONAVIRUS | The tourism sector has seen an upsurge, with hotel reservations nationwide showing an increase of up to 30.74 percent until June, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Nancy Shukri said.

Nancy (photo, above) said hotels were being filled up by domestic tourists and this has helped revive the country's economy, which has been badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“In terms of hotel reservations, from March, the occupancy rate was 18.29 percent. In April it dipped 8.86 percent because of the (Covid-19) peak (in Malaysia) and in May, during the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO), 9.63 percent.

“But until June 30, (occupancy) surged to 30.74 percent. This shows that the public is beginning to go out, they are brave enough to go out because the situation in the country is quite safe,” Nancy told Bernama.

She said the ministry always cooperated with the industry players in the tourism sector to tackle the effects of Covid-19.

“We always have engagements, discussions with tourism industry players and they give us ideas, which we use as feedback for the government,” she said as a guest on Bernama TV’s talk show programme, Ruang Bicara, yesterday.

Nancy said the ministry would obtain guidelines from the Ministry of Health, Home Ministry and Foreign Ministry to assist in identifying green zones overseas that could implement “travel bubbles”.

“For example, we do not refer to Australia as a whole, perhaps just Perth,” she said.

The “green bubble” or “green lane” concept involves the easing of travel restrictions between two or more countries that record low local Covid-19 infection.

Nancy added that her ministry would also hold discussions with airline companies regarding the matter.

- Bernama