HOTEL and tourism players are elated at being allowed to resume business, with some saying they expect a surge in bookings in the coming months.

Hotels are expected to roll out special packages to entice Malaysians to pick local holiday destinations, following the government’s announcement that interstate travel is permitted starting Wednesday.

“The number of domestic travellers will shoot up from the current zero,” said Malaysian Travel Association (Mata) president Mohd Khalid Harun.

“Homestays in rural areas and people visiting their kampung are considered domestic tourism.

“This news should be celebrated by everyone, not just the tourism industry.”

Interstate travel is barred under movement curbs that took effect on March 18 to break the chain of Covid-19 infections.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, in a special address, said domestic tourism activities will be allowed to resume 2½ months after they were ordered stopped.

Khalid said Mata and hotel associations will meet Putrajaya soon to fine-tune health and safety standard operating procedures for the sector.

Malaysian Hotel Association CEO Yap Lip Seng said feedback from members showed that reservations for the third and fourth quarters are stable.

“The demand for rooms is improving for 2021. This shows that people are confident about going on holiday in the ‘new normal’.”

He said room prices will not be increased even though operators may need to spend more to sanitise their premises.

“In fact, hotels will probably come up with attractive packages to get people to stay with them.”

Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Nancy Shukri has said the tourism industry lost an estimated RM9 billion during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Malaysian Tour and Travel Agents’ Association president Tan Kok Liang said the sector is important to the nation’s economy.

“The view that the sector was the first to get hit by the pandemic and the last to get help should change.

“Boosting domestic tourism should be a priority because it is closely related to other sectors, such as hotels, airlines, transport, retail, and food and beverage.”

In an encouraging sign of a return of the boom times, Langkawi Tourism Association CEO Zainuddin Kadir said hotels on the island have seen more than 1,000 bookings for Wednesday onwards.

“Between 4pm and 4.45pm today, we received 1,000 bookings.

“This is a record. All our hotels received 1,000 bookings from domestic tourists,” he was quoted as saying by Astro Awani.

He said the association hopes to attract one million local visitors by year-end. – June 7, 2020.