LOCAL tourism players have appealed to the government for assistance while the domestic tourism bubble plan is put on hold to curb rising Covid-19 infections.

For starters, it could scrap the impractical conditions for the renewal of business permits, said Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association (MITA) president Uzaidi Udanis.

To save costs, Uzaidi said many travel agencies had stopped renting offices and made the switch to online platforms.

“During the pandemic, customers will visit the travel agency office to enquire about packages.

“But the ministry insists the travel agency must have an office to renew its licence,” Uzaidi said.

“So we have applied to the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry to exempt tourism operators from having to have an office as a prerequisite for licence renewal. 

The insistence on keeping an office hasn’t helped operators survive the beating from Covid-19, as office rental in Kuala Lumpur is at least RM5,000 per month, which is about RM60,000 a year, he added.

“There is no income during the pandemic,so why do we need to maintain an office and pay expenses?”

Uzaidi said though the industry welcomed the plan for domestic tourism bubble plan, which allows tourism for those living in green and recovery movement control (RMCO) areas to travel to destinations in other green and RMCO locations, it had also been a struggle.

There was good response to the bubble plan initially, when it was introduced in November, but demand dropped with Covid-19 cases began to rise earlier this year.

Unable to go abroad, locals had responded positively to hiking and island activity packages, which were the most popular, Uzaidi said. Even shorter packages for day trips eco-farms or fishing villages on the coast were well-received, and places like Zoo Negara were full, he added.

The government suspended the domestic tourism bubble plan on Tuesday when it also declared a third MCO (MCO 3.0) for six districts in Selangor, from May 6 to 17.

Subsequently, it also imposed the MCO on Kuala Lumpur, several districts in Johor and Perak, and in Besut, Terengganu, until May 20. Kelantan is also under the MCO until May 17.

Uzaidi said given the situation, domestic tourism can only fully fully recover in two to three years. 

In the meantime, the government should be creative when helping the industry.

For example, the government could consider using tourist buses to transport tertiary students back to their hometowns for Hari Raya.

“We can assist the government in sending college students back to their states that are not under MCO. 

“We have recommended it to the government and we hope it will be accepted,” he said. 

Malaysia Inbound Chinese Association (Mica) President Dr Angie Ng also accepted the domestic tourism bubble suspension, even if it meant a delayed “resurrection” of one of the most battered economic sectors.

While the bubble programme was in place, the bulk of consumers had been from Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, who mostly opted for day trips to destinations no further than an hour’s drive.

“Nobody likes being stuck in the bus for a long time. The places people chose to travel to are like dragon fruit farms in Tanjong Sepat, a rural town in Selangor, or even Putrajaya.

“Our members promoted travel packages to e-commerce companies (during the domestic tourism bubble programme) and the response was good. There were 2,000 bookings but now they can’t travel and the trips will have to be postponed.”

Ng said before the suspension, the month of May would have seen tourism on the east coast islands picking up.

Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association president Albert Tan, felt the green tourism bubble plan was poorly received.

“Travel agencies had not more than 20% of their previous bookings because people are still afraid of catching the virus by travelling out.”

Most people also prefer traveling using their own vehicles compared to a tour agency’s transportation.

Tan also said not very many travel agencies went all out to participate in the travel bubble plan because of complicated standard operating procedures they were required to follow.

Besides having to rent buses or transport, they also had to apply for police permits.

“In the end, those that participated were agencies that already had their own fleet of transport vehicles,” said Tan. – May 8, 2021.