Since 18 March 2020, the tourism and hotel sector lost 80% of its business (Malaysia Association of Hotels (“MAH”) – 22 May 2021). This is despite the short window of domestic tourism between June 2020 till September 2020.
The hotel industry alone recorded a loss over RM6.53b for 2020, or about RM300m loss every two weeks. Loss of revenue up to May 2021 is about RM5b, worse than 2020. The hotel industry will not survive with lockdowns, flip-flop policies and no sectoral assistance plans! Lives of 3.6 million employed is at stake.
A long-term plan is needed to control the situation. Lockdowns need to be targeted on factory by factory or office by office basis. It cannot be on a district by district or on a nationwide basis. That is using the hammer to kill an ant. The key to this is vaccination. If vaccination can be 70% and with good protocols for overseas travel, a modicum of normality may return.
Meanwhile, MAH’s CEO, Yap Lip Seng is of the view that the Government had not mitigated any specific industry assistance. With that, more closures are expected, and countless people will lose their jobs. On 1st July 2021, Hotel Istana announced it would cease operations on September 1. This follows Hotel Equatorial, Penang to close due to poor business conditions. MAH told Sinar Harian at least 120 hotels have closed temporarily or permanently costing over RM11.3 billion to-date. Hotel operations are not only capital intensive but also high on operational expenses. Even quarantine hotels are in the red.
With no hope of Government support, the future looks bleak unless Phase 3 of the National Recovery Plan is achieved soon – an unlikely prospect for the moment.
Source: https://www.malaymail.com
Reference:
Hotel group: The Gov’t has
failed us, ignored many of our proposals!
G Vinod, Focus Malaysia, 1 July 2021
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