LANGKAWI: More tourists from China have cancelled their plans to visit the island following the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus (2019-nCoV) which has forced the Chinese government to temporary suspend all inbound and outbound tours.
Kedah/Perlis chapter Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) vice chairman Razmi Rahmat said many hotel operators on the island had started to feel the impact from the virus outbreak which has spread across China and other nations.
“Staff at hotels in Langkawi have been flooded with calls from customers especially those from China cancelling their reservations made for the period from yesterday (Sunday) until the end of February,” he said when contacted today.
Although the association welcomes the decision by the tourists that will help to prevent the spread of the virus, Razmi said such development would incur bad implication towards the hotel industry on the island and Kedah.
“The cancellation was not only made by those arriving in group tours but also by individual tourists who made reservations directly with the hotel as well via online.
“As a member of the business and tourism community, we will not close our doors to any reservations but have to also accept the decision by the tourists in cancelling their reservations,” said Razmi, who is also the general manager of the Adya Hotel Langkawi.
He added that all 239 staff at hotels in Kuah and Pantai Chenang had been instructed to wear mask to reduce the risk and protect themselves from contracting the 2019-nCoV since there are four confirmed cases involving China nationals in the country to date.
“We are taking precautionary measures to protect our staff since our tourists come from many countries and that we do not know their actual health status,” he said.
Langkawi Tourism Association chief executive officer Zainuddin Kadir was worried about the future of the island’s tourism sector in the wake of the virus, which has seen more than 50 people succumb to the disease in China.
“There will be a drop in tourist arrivals since all direct (charter) flights from China to Langkawi had been cancelled for at least until the end of next month.
“More efforts need to lure more local tourists to visit the island since the flight cancellation has resulted in 40 per cent drop in arrivals of tourist,” he said.
He said association is in the process of discussion with several quarters to conduct ‘solat hajat’ (special prayer) praying that Langkawi would be spared of the deadly virus.