TOURIST arrivals fell by 9.1 million in the first half of 2020, said Nancy Shukri.

“This translates to a decline of 68.2% to 4.25 million arrivals from 13.35 million in the first half of 2019.

“Tourist spending also dropped by 69.8% to RM12.57 billion from RM41.69 billion for the same period last year,” the tourism minister said in a written reply in the Dewan Rakyat today.

The Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry expects losses of more than RM100 billion in 2020 as a result of the drop in tourist spending, said Nancy.

The loss of income comes from accommodation, transport, shopping and the food and beverage industries.

“(The ministry) is currently evaluating the impact of the additional conditional-movement control order (CMCO) in several states and locations due to the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said the Batang Sadong MP.

The government has launched several initiatives under the Prihatin and Penjana programmes to help the tourism sector weather the Covid-19 storm.

“Among them are tax exemptions from July 1, 2020 until June 30, 2021, service tax exemptions for accommodation, RM1,000 reliefs for domestic travellers, wage subsidies and various exemptions for tourism operators.”

Nancy was responding to Fong Kui Lun (PH-Bukit Bintang) who asked about the decline in tourist arrivals in 2020. – November 24, 2020.