She said the matter was decided in the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob today, to facilitate the Langkawi tourism bubble pilot project which begins on Sept 16.

Nancy said the move would allow 5,335 registered travel agencies in the country to begin generating some income after being in the doldrums for almost two years due to the pandemic.

“The government is committed to revitalising the economy and ensuring the business continuity of the tourism and culture industry, especially in maintaining the jobs of those involved in the sector,” she said in a statement today.

Yesterday, the government announced that fully vaccinated domestic tourists from all over the country, except for those in areas placed under the enhanced movement control order, can visit Langkawi from Sept 16.

Meanwhile, Nancy said the government had channelled a special one-off assistance of RM3,000 to 2,899 travel agencies, involving an allocation of RM8.6 million, while payment to the remaining 2,436 travel agencies was still in process.

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