SARAWAK’s tourism industry welcomed news of the reopening of the country’s borders but are prepared for hard work if the expected trickle of tourist arrivals turns into droves.

Many companies have been running with a skeleton staff after laying off their workers in the sector that has been the most battered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sarawak Tourism Federation (STF) president Audrey Wan Ullok said his biggest concern was that the industry might not have the workers to handle incoming visitors on April 1 as the country prepares to transition to the endemic stage of the coronavirus.

STF is the umbrella organisation for companies in the state’s tourism sector.

“Manpower – that might be an issue,” Wan Ullok said.

She said there could be a lack of integral workers such as experienced tour guides, tour assistants, boat operators, van and bus drivers.

“Many of them have left the industry to find other jobs,” Wan Ullok told The Malaysian Insight.

She siad continuing uncertainty as to when the pandemic will end had made many workers reluctant to return to their old jobs.

Despite the trepidation, Wan Ullok said the the sector was relieved and excited to hear international visitors would be allowed once again in Malaysia.

She said the first item on the industry’s agenda would be to impress upon travellers that it was safe to tour Sarawak.

“We should be able to gain the confidence of travellers.”

Wan Ullok said the industry must make the safety and wellbeing of their visitors its priority.

That could be achieved if the industry stringently applied the Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs).

“If we practise this strictly and cases are kept under control, we will regain that confidence.”

Wan Ullok is aware that the industry “will never be like what it was pre-pandemic”.

She said it would take at least two years “before we can really get back into the momentum of things”.

“But this is the new norm we are living in and we have to adapt wisely and cautiously.”

Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Abdul Karim Hamzah called the announcement “timely”.

“I’m happy,” he said, adding that life must go on.

Karim said Sarawak folk have learnt to live with Covid-19 and the lockdowns and other restrictions to curb the spread of the virus had trained them to be cautious.

He said the borders needed to be open like they have been in other countries.

“They know they cannot economically afford to keep their borders closed,” he said, pointing to countries like Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia.

“We need to accept the fact that Covid-19 is here to stay but with good precautionary measures, our fight against its surge will soon be over.” – March 11, 2022.