THE tourism sector in Terengganu needs at least five years to fully recover from the lockdowns brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, Eastern Region Tourism director Zuraini Abdul Ghani said.

She said the recovery is slow, despite the government lifting the travel ban last October.

“This situation is not just in Terengganu, Langkawi is the same.

“We can say that this is the expected scenario. It will take at least five years to recover,” Zuraini told The Malaysian Insight.

She said one of the reasons for the slow recovery was due to the closure of the country’s borders to foreign tourists.

“If the country’s borders are opened, the recovery will be quicker because tourist expenditure will increase, the duration of hotel stays will be longer,” Zuraini said.

Meanwhile, she said domestic tourism is seasonal, relying on school holidays, festivals and public holidays.

The fear of contracting Covid-19 is also hampering Terengganu’s recovery, with tourism the state’s second largest industry.

The east coast state received 5.9 million domestic tourists in 2019 but that figure more than halved to 2.7 million in 2020. No data is available yet for 2021.

In early January, tourism exco Ariffin Deraman targeted 3 million visitors, a significant reduction on the previous year’s 5 million.

He said the modest target is due to lingering uncertainty.

Slow but steady

However, Zuraini said the issue could not be seen from a negative angle because the state was showing encouraging development in attracting domestic tourists, especially to resort island destinations.

“The tourism culture in the country is actually developing well, Malaysians actually want to travel.

“It’s just that, as I said, they are worried about Covid-19 cases. Tourists are still being careful.

“We are still struggling to recover,” she said.

Meanwhile, resort owners and tourism players are anticipating this year will be better as many were closed last year.

Redang Bay Resort owner Lim You Jing said he was ready to open his resort this year for the first time in three years.

“Previously I decided to just close as we only had two to three months left before the island closed due to the monsoon,” Lim said.

“If we had opened, our operating costs would have been huge,” he said.

However, he said, the response was still relatively slow based on bookings he received for March.

“Yet it is still too early for us to predict. We will know the real situation after the Chinese New Year holiday,” he said.

Chairman of the Pulau Perhentian resort and tourism operators’ association, Abdul Aziz Che Abdullah, said he is optimistic that the sector will revive this year as the travel ban has been lifted.

He said although the sector would take a long time to recover, it is currently showing positive development.

“The challenge depends on the season, because when we open in March, then a month later it is Ramadan, so we expect it to be a little slow.

“That’s why we don’t know how long it will take to fully recover. Depending on the number of tourists who come and God willing this year there is hope for all of us,” Aziz added. – January 26, 2022.