Nigel Wong, secretary-general of the Malaysian association of travel agents (MATTA), said domestic tourism would be affected if the second wave of infections was prolonged and increased.
The domestic tourism figures have already fallen but it is still too early to tell how much of an impact would be felt as the second wave just started, Wong said.
“However, Matta sees it as under control because the ministry and private sectors have plans to improve it.”
When asked about the strategy to improve the tourism industry, Wong said the tourism ministry and travel agents are targeting different markets such as South East Asia countries, Australia and India.
He also claimed that travel agents are the biggest victims of the outbreak “we are in fact the highly affected group because of the nature of the business”.
“Customers always unfairly assume they can ask for full refunds of cancelled travel packages, but the money actually went on airline tickets and hotels”
“We (travel agents) only receive a small amount of commission from the sale.”
Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) president Kamaruddin Baharin said while the cases reported locally are definitely a blow to domestic tourism but the overall situation is still under control.
Kamaruddin praised the health ministry on their effort to contain the outbreak, and it was still safe to travel within Malaysia.
However, bookings had fallen. “The first phase of the impact saw massive cancellation of room bookings and we are now slowly entering the second phase with a drop in onward demand.”
“While we are unable to track future demand at the moment, we foresee a drop in demand of at least 30-50% from April onward.”
As of February, the tourism industry has suffered an estimated RM3 billion losses from cancellations and bookings due to the Covid-19 outbreak, said Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry secretary-general Noor Zari Hamat.
The outbreak, he said, could affect the government’s target of achieving 30 million arrivals during the Visit Malaysia Year 2020 campaign.
Malaysia has blocked the entry of visitors from Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna in Italy, Hokkaido in Japan and Tehran, Qom and Gilan in Iran.