KUALA LUMPUR: The resumption of interstate travel, starting Monday, will encourage more family tours to domestic tourist destinations.
Lauding the move, Malaysia Tourism Council president Uzaidi Udanis said tourism players had pinned high hopes on unrestricted interstate travel for the pandemic-battered industry to recover.
"Over the last 20 months, tourism players struggled to pull through. Our only relief was during the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) period between October and December last year but that was short-lived when the government reinstated the MCO January this year.
"We have been preparing to reset the domestic tourism market earlier. For instance, we have refocused our strategy to cater for smaller family tours rather than large group tours as people are still cautious about the virus transmission.
"Even under the Langkawi travel bubble that registered over 15,000 tourist arrivals in the last two weeks, we noticed that people prefer to travel in smaller groups," he told the New Straits Times.
Uzaidi said the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) had estimated that global tourism market would only reach pre-Covid levels by 2024.
"Likewise, we also have to be realistic with our expectations for local tourism. Many hotels have closed for good and many tour operators have sold their buses to ride out the pandemic.
"It will surely take us some time to recover," he said.
Uzaidi also requested countries including India and China that contributed to Malaysia's international tourist flow to allow their citizens to travel here for tourism purposes.
He also reminded business premises to be responsible in ensuring a safe experience for tourists and urged Malaysians to adhere to the necessary standard operating procedures (SOP).
Earlier today, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that fully vaccinated individuals could make interstate travels without obtaining police permits starting tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) chief executive officer Yap Lip Seng said the resumption of interstate travel was a timely move that would support the country's overall economic recovery.
"The hotel industry, in particular, has been looking forward (to this development) and at the same time, we are well prepared with safety protocols as an added assurance to travellers.
"More importantly, this would drive confidence among the people in the industry and the industry needs to rebuild its talents, to be ready for the impending reopening of our international borders," he said.