THERE are no “immediate plans” to bring back or replace the Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign with another programme, Deputy Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Jeffrey Kitingan told the Dewan Negara today.

 “The Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.

“We don’t have immediate plans to replace the Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign (or bring it back) next year or the following year because a programme of such scale requires a lot of planning and arrangements,” he said.

The government will review the situation when the pandemic is contained and international borders reopen, he said.

He was responding to a question from Senator Kesavadas Achyuthan Nair on the government’s plans for the Visit Malaysia campaign given the downturn in tourism.

Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Nancy Shukri said on March 18 that the campaign was cancelled.

She said the coronavirus has had a detrimental effect on tourism the world over.

Due to the movement control order from March 18 to 31 to check the outbreak, the ministry had to freeze many tourism-related services, she said in a statement.

The ministry suspended its counter and online services for the application of licences of tour companies, tour guides, tourism accommodation, spas and foot reflexology centres, she added.

VM2020 was launched on December 31, targeting 30 million visitor arrivals and RM100 billion tourist receipts.