The safety of travellers and frontliners in the industry should be of paramount concern, said spokesmen for the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) and the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH).

Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Nancy Shukri told the Dewan Rakyat earlier that the government was studying the possibility of opening borders to travellers from green zone cities rather than waiting for entire countries to become green zones.

Matta secretary-general Nigel Wong said the idea of introducing safe travel in “manageable chunks” made a lot of sense.

“It is probably easier to determine the level of safety based on specific geographical locations,” he told FMT.

He said there would have to be assurances that travellers from overseas are tested against Covid-19 in their home countries and are adequately screened on arrival.

“Also, it’s important to keep track of where the travellers are going,” he added.

MAH president Mohamad Halim Merican said hotels would welcome any influx of travellers provided all relevant protocols are in place.

“If this g-to-g (green zone-to-green zone) control can happen, and it’s secure and tight enough, we would welcome it, of course,” he said. “We want the business.”

However, he called for “strong consideration” of all the risks involved, saying Malaysia could not afford to go into another state of movement control orders.

“We definitely want to be open to the international market and for travellers to come to Malaysia, but we need to ask if it really is safe enough,” he said.

He noted the fragility of green zones, citing Penang as an example.

“Penang had been green since May,” he said. “But suddenly, three new cases emerged and everyone is now a bit sceptical about going to certain places.”

He said MAH members in Penang saw patronage halved last weekend after reporting good occupancy rates in previous weeks.

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