Speaking to FMT, Malaysian Budget Hotel Association president Emmy Suraya Hussein said her group was working on the app with the cooperation of the tourism, arts and culture ministry as part of an effort to promote Visit Malaysia 2020.

The app will provide choices from a package of hotels and facilitate visits to places of interest.

“We are not only promoting hotels in Visit Malaysia 2020, but the country as a whole,” Emmy said. “A lot of tourists and even Malaysians aren’t aware of interesting places in Malaysia.”

She complained that online travel agencies and Airbnb had disrupted the hotel business, causing budget hotel occupancy to drop by up to 30% in Kuala Lumpur alone.

“They can flood the market with their prices because they are not subjected to taxes, unlike hotels and budget hotels which need to pay corporate tax, tourism tax and so on,” she said.

She noted a report that said Airbnb operators had about 52,000 rooms in Malaysia and made RM3 billion in 2018.

“And they can increase the number of rooms within a few months,” she said.

She called for regulations to level the playing field and to ensure public safety from unbridled Airbnb operations.

Noting that Airbnb rooms are available in residential areas, she said they “could be a nuisance” to the affected neighbourhoods.

Security could be a concern, she said. “Guests don’t register on these services. So they could be doing anything.”