SHOPPING malls are not expecting an influx of foreign visitors anytime soon even with the reopening of borders but they do expect business to pick up in time, the Malaysian Shopping Malls Association said.

Its president Teo Chiang Kok Teo said they were looking for an increase in domestic shoppers, especially for Hari Raya.

“We foresee that footfall will increase with the coming Raya festivities, hopefully to 80-90% pre-Covid levels,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

As for foreign visitors, Teo said they would increase in time.

“Foreign traffic with the reopening of the borders will take time to build up.”

Malaysia opened its borders yesterday after a closure of two years as it began transitioning to the endemic phase of Covid-19.

Restaurants are allowed to open 24 hours while the unvaccinated may now travel interstate.

Teo said footfalls gradually improved from December until January but saw an unusual decline after the Chinese New Year.

“The overall performance of malls nationwide varies widely; malls in tourist dependent locations are still suffering from low traffic.

“This was because although the Singapore VTL (vaccinated travel lane) is open, incoming travellers are obliged to not land in the city and therefore, they tend to miss the malls.”

Teo said he was confident there would be more outings to the malls.

“People have generally adopted online shopping for generic products but still prefer malls for the touch and feel experience, social outings and camaraderie.”

On the number of outlets that have shut down, he said vacant lots in the malls are now 10-30%.

This, he said, was expected to remain until the second quarter of the year.

Teo said MySejahtera check-ins are still required at the malls.

“We believe the SOP should be further relaxed in tandem with the re-opening of the borders and we await such changes.”

 Good start

Sunway Malls & Theme Parks chief executive officer H.C. Chan said the transition into the endemic phase was a good start.

“The transition towards the endemic phase sends a large psychological signal that we are seeing a beginning towards normality.

“It creates certainty which is important for businesses to thrive as opposed to the last two years’ of uncertainty.”

He said the reopening of borders would enable Sunway to welcome back international arrivals.

Chan said Sunway Malls saw a 120% recovery in January, outperforming pre-pandemic levels.

“It was predominantly driven by strong and consistent festive buying throughout the four weeks as opposed to the traditional two weeks.

“The second quarter will be strong with Raya festivities contributing a significant uplift now that people are allowed to ‘balik kampung’ after two years.

“We foresee this will bring about significant festive spending.”

Chan said despite 150 days of lockdown last year, Sunway Malls returned to 100% normality in terms of sales and traffic in the fourth quarter of 2021.

“Ninety-two per cent of our retailers reported sales recovery with 32% seeing a business recovery exceeding 100%.”

As for shop closures in its malls, Chan said the numbers were in the single digits.

“Sunway Malls saw robust demand for space with a total of 160 new shops opening in 2021, albeit lower than the 200 new openings in 2020. 

Meanwhile, IOI Properties Bhd retail head Chris Chong said footfall had increased by 35% since January, vehicle entries showed.

He said as borders opened, they were looking forward to an increase of shoppers as well as foreign travellers.

“Raya is our peak shopping month and we usually experience a 25-30% increase in visitors.

“Our malls also have a host of activities and events for the Raya festivities.”

Chong said several shops had closed due to expiration of tenancies and had been replaced by new stores and new brands.

“Occupancy has been a steady 98-99% since our opening in 2014.

“On the SOP, we shall await updates from the local authorities and follow the guidelines like we always do.” – April 2, 2022.