Allow inter-state travel to boost economy, govt told

 

The ban on cross-border travel has little impact on the number of Covid-19 cases but could make a great difference to the economy, says the Tourist Guides Council. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: The government has been urged to lift the ban on interstate travel, since senior minister for security Ismail Sabri Yaakob has acknowledged that movement across states was not a main contributor to Covid-19 cases.

The call comes at a time when the government has just taken a tentative step towards opening up interstate travel, allowing working couples living in different states to visit each other.

Malaysian Tourist Guides Council president Jimmy Leong admitted that the current Covid-19 situation meant that it was not the right time for tourism, adding that it was the last thing on people’s minds.

However, he told FMT that opening up state borders would benefit other sectors related to the tourism industry, such as eateries and shopping malls, among others.

Jimmy Leong.

“Interstate travel should be permitted so our economy will not be affected. In our country, some of the state borders are only within a hundred kilometres away from each other and imposing a ban on interstate crossings is not practical.

“Having identified the manufacturing and construction sectors (as the main contributors to Covid-19 cases), our resources should not be wasted. Instead, we should focus on eliminating the spread strictly in these targeted areas.

“Tourism will only thrive again when the situation is much safer for Malaysians to travel around freely, certainly not at this moment,” he said.

Leong added that the limit of two people in a vehicle should still remain, while the practice of SOPs such as physical distancing, face-masks and frequent hand sanitising should be constantly emphasised.

In a recent interview with Bernama, Ismail said the biggest cause of Covid-19 cases in the third wave was workers in the manufacturing and construction sectors, adding that interstate travel was one of the contributors but not the largest.

Putrajaya had decided to open up all state borders on Dec 7, although states like Selangor and Negeri Sembilan had a high number of Covid-19 cases and were under a conditional movement control order (CMCO).

However, as the number of cases continued to spriral upwards, interstate travel was banned once again with five states and three federal territories placed under an MCO on Jan 13.

Carmelo Ferlito.

Economist Carmelo Ferlito said Ismail’s remarks were a step in the right direction toward communicating disaggregated data, adding that information such as the age, gender and health history of cases should also be made known.

Ferlito, CEO of The Center for Market Education, told FMT that barring interstate travel as a whole was not the right solution if not accompanied with the communication of relevant information to help people assess the risks.

Unlike Leong, however, Ferlito said opening up all state borders would be a bad idea, citing how many Malaysians had travelled across the country over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

“We need to improve data collection, analysis and communication. We also need clear identification of clusters and their death rates. How many clusters do we have from restaurants or barber shops? Do we need to keep them closed?

“It is already possible to travel for business with proper documentation. We just need to make life easier for businesses. The whole economy can benefit from more physical interaction because online meetings have limitations.” - FMT