DOMESTIC tourism may be picking up under relaxed movement curbs, but this does not mean there are job vacancies in the sector waiting for the unemployed.

Though bookings on hotel and accommodation apps appear to have quickly increased, most hotels and travel agencies continue to operate with minimal staff as they are not ready to start offering jobs again, industry players told The Malaysian Insight.

On the popular holiday island of Langkawi, the focus is to survive the year and rebuild businesses that nearly went bankrupt because of the movement-control order (MCO) against Covid-19, they said.

Langkawi Tourism Industry Association president Ahmad Phisol Ishak said the majority of hoteliers there are not prepared to hire even though unemployment has spiked.

The last official unemployment rate was 5.3% in May, up from 5% in April.

“Hotels in Langkawi have not hired new employees, and some employees who were put on leave haven’t been told to return to work,” said Phisol.

“You can’t add new employees if current ones are being made to take leave.”

Local tourists are arriving to the island, he said, but things are nowhere near pre-MCO days.

“We can’t even say things are at a ‘satisfactory’ level, although I think we are moving in that direction.

“The market is still uncertain, what’s more with the new Covid-19 clusters in Kedah and Sarawak.”

Job-search portal JobStreet reported that the tourism and hospitality industry is slowly beginning to recover, based on a 22.8% increase in the number of advertisements posted in May and June.

The conditional MCO, which saw restrictions slightly eased, was in place from May 4 to June 9. Domestic tourism was only allowed to resume from June 10, when the MCO entered its recovery phase. Almost all sectors are allowed to reopen, though large gatherings where close contact is likely are still barred. This phase of movement controls is in effect till August 31.

In the period when the MCO was imposed from mid-March to May, a JobStreet study found that unemployment stood at 63% in the travel agency sector, hospitality workers (66%), and food and beverage industry (60%).

Mohd Yusin Mohd Yatim, chairman of the Kedah/Perlis chapter of the Malaysian Tourism and Travel Agents’ Association (Matta), questioned JobStreet’s method of determining the industry’s recovery, saying he believes hotels are not in a position to offer jobs.

“The reality is that all companies are taking austerity measures. We are operating with minimum staff, and this will likely last until December.

“There is no point offering positions if there is no business. If we take on new hires now, we will collapse. The priority is creating demand by promoting holidays in Kedah and Perlis.”

He said the Matta chapter he leads is working with those in Perak and Penang on coming up with packages and promotions.

“Where we tourism players can offer jobs would be to partners, like travel agents, and bus, van and taxi drivers, and this is when there is demand.”

Husin, who also runs Tropical Charters Sdn Bhd, which provides tour services to cruise ship passengers, has yet to ask all of his employees to return to work. Of his original manpower of 60 staff, he now has 40 left.

The Malaysian Association of Hotels’ Penang chairman, Khoo Boo Lim, said the vacancies advertised may be for low-skilled jobs previously filled by foreigners, such as cleaning.

“For management positions, there are very few opportunities. This is because most hotels want to be careful with positions involving high salaries.

“It will also be a while before lower- and mid-salary positions are offered.” – August 3, 2020.