The Sarawak chairman of the Malaysian Association of Hotels, Mohd Ibrahim Nordin, said hotels were badly affected when the movement control order started in March.

However, he said, the industry had begun to see an increase in bookings for rooms since interstate travel was allowed.

“The majority of hotels recorded an average occupancy rate of 65% in the past few months, while the resorts are always fully booked on weekends,” he told FMT.

“But with the stringent procedures for entry into Sarawak, it is expected that the hotel occupancy rate will drop below 30%,” he told FMT.

There are 496 hotels with 21,850 rooms in Sarawak, according to him.

A travel agency director, Kim Ng, said her business was struggling to survive as sales had dropped by 90%.

“I am not sure what else I can do since even those from the peninsula need to undergo a 14-day quarantine period upon their arrival. So, I don’t think any tourists would want to come here,” she said, adding that most of her customers were from Singapore and West Malaysia.

She has plans to temporarily shut down her business if the Covid-19 situation continues to worsen.