KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association (MITA) has welcomed the government’s stimulus package to help the local tourism sector mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Its president Uzaidi Udanis said the announcement by Interim Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday was one of the best stimulus packages the tourism industry players had ever received.
“We believed Dr Mahathir had listened to the grouses of industry players and acknowledged the challenges they face. This is reflected in the stimulus package’s offerings.”
“We are pleased to learn that he had also agreed to implement other incentives such as providing one-off payments worth RM600 for tourist bus drivers and individual tax waiver up to RM1,000 for domestic travel expenses,” he said at a press conference at Malaysian Tourism Centre earlier today.
The Covid-19 outbreak had resulted in 80 per cent travel cancellations during the peak of Chinese New Year and a total of 95,972 hotel bookings as of Feb 9, causing the tourism industry a total loss of RM40 million.
In maximising the incentives allocated for the tourism industry under the stimulus package, Uzaidi said MITA plans to use the funds by organising MITA e-Travel Fair 2020.
“The online fair will start from March 15 to March 20. There will be around 500 tourism industry operators who will offer Covid-19 special discounts up to 70 per cent on their travel packages, including theme parks tickets and hotel room bookings nationwide.
“Customers can also plan and book their getaways using the digital vouchers of up to RM100, as announced in the stimulus package,” he said, adding that these promotions intend to encourage Malaysians to travel within the country.
He added that MITA foresees around 100,000 customers would purchase tour domestic packages from the online fair, with an estimated returns of RM20 million.
According to Uzaidi, MITA had also received reports that some tourist operators, who had been hit hard by Covid-19, had dismissed their staff.
“MITA has advised members to allow their staff to go on leave, instead of firing them, in effort to save costs during these difficult times.”
“In total, MITA has about 2,000 members comprising travel agents, homestay operators and travel-related operators.
“Most of them were affected by Covid-19, especially those heavily reliant on Chinese visitors.”