Local Hotel Bookings Jump To 30% As Malaysians Fill Reservations
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With domestic tourism and travel now allowed following the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) period, Malaysians are apparently beginning to make up for some lost time.
According to the Tourism Ministry, hotel bookings across the country jumped to over 30% as of June 2020 with reservations being made by locals.
Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri explained that Malaysia’s tourism and cultural sectors had suffered a slump during the Covid-19 pandemic as the nation went into lockdown with losses estimated at around RM45 billion during just the first half of the year.
Nancy said that comparatively, in March, local hotel occupancy rates were at 18% before dropping to just 8% for April and May as the Movement Control Order (MCO) took effect and 9% when the nation shifted into the RMCO period.
The minister suggested that with more and more locals supposedly going on holidays, Malaysians feel that the country is relatively safe from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Separately, Nancy mentioned that the country was looking into Covid-19 guidelines and safe destinations overseas to create a travel bubble to allow for cross-border travel.
The minister said that one way a travel bubble could be implemented would be to have travel allowances only to specific destinations instead of opening up travel entirely.
For example, we do not refer to Australia as a whole, perhaps just Perth.
Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri via Bernama
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