JOHOR BARU: Shopping malls in Johor, the focus of Singaporean tourists before the Covid-19 pandemic, are relatively deserted with small number of visitors despite the reopening of the Malaysia-Singapore border yesterday.
Checks at several malls, especially in Taman Abad and Taman Pelangi, here, showed only a small crowd at these two locations.
The shopping mall at Taman Abad, one of the main areas for Singaporeans to get their hair done as well as nail and reflexology massage services, has yet to receive patrons from the republic.
Dozens of hair and nail salons remained empty with employees waiting in front of the premises for customers.
A hair salon employee, who wanted to be known as Reggie Ng, said his establishment has more than six staff ready to welcome Singaporeans and locals.
However, he was a little disappointed due to the lacklustre response from customers.
"I expected more Singaporeans to return here but as of this afternoon, we still have yet to receive a single customer, let alone from Singapore," he said.
Meanwhile, the Johor Budget Hotel and Business Association (MyBha) chairman Jarod Chia said 109 budget hotel members in the state were also waiting in anticipation for the arrival of Singaporean tourists.
However, not many people from the republic entered the state despite the border reopening yesterday, he said.
Chia said from his observation, thousands of individuals and vehicles seen crossing the Johor Causeway yesterday were Malaysian workers who were stranded and had not returned home for some time.
"At the hotel I manage, there were only two Singaporean tourists who arrived yesterday. Although we expected many more tourists to come, this seems to be not happening.
"I asked Singaporean tourists about it and they said many are still taking a wait-and-see attitude on the standard operating procedures (SOP) for entry into the country.
"We expect them to return when they understood the SOP for entry, which is not complicated and easy," he said.
Chia said MyBHA expects an influx of Singaporean visitors to begin in the middle of Ramadan and its peak is likely to be during Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
"During Ramadan, Singaporeans usually want to buy items to prepare for the breaking of fast, but on Aidilfitri, we expect budget hotel bookings to return to normal as before the pandemic," he said.
On March 25, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong, in a joint statement, said both countries had agreed to reopen their land borders for fully vaccinated travellers beginning April 1.
Malaysia and Singapore will also allow fully vaccinated travellers to cross the land borders without the need to take the Covid-19 pre-departure and arrival tests or be quarantined.