Malaysia hotel industry suffers RM6.53b losses last year - MAH

PETALING JAYA (May 24): Malaysia hotel industry has suffered losses of over RM6.53 billion in 2020 and estimated loss of RM300 million for every two weeks of movement control order period, said Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH).

With the reinstatement of movement control order this year, the association predicted the loss of revenue for 2021 could easily add up to RM5 billion. 

In a media statement on May 23, MAH said  since March 18, 2020 the tourism and hotel industry lost over 80% of its business despite the short window of domestic tourism between the months of June 2020 till September 2020. 

“The government needs to understand that as long as travel restrictions are in place and both domestic and international borders are closed, the tourism and hotel industry will not survive, regardless of total lockdown or not. Government cannot turn a blind eye to this fact anymore. The lives of 3.6 million people employed in the industry, or what’s left of it by now, is at stake here,” stressed MAH.

A long-term plan to effectively contain the disease is needed, hence the tourism and hotel industry is of the opinion that the government needs to implement stricter and more effective measures such as a total lockdown, similar to MCO 1.0 to control the spread as soon as possible. 

Limiting attendance at the workplace and operation hours of economic sectors will only prolong the situation, said the association.

“The tourism and hotel industry is arguably one of the most impacted industries and has not seen any signs of recovery to date. It can no longer sustain; its survival is highly dependent on control of spread that would enable relaxation of travel restrictions both domestically and eventually internationally,” it added.

MAH has over 1,000 hotel members spread across 13 chapters and partnerships with both the private sectors and Government such as with the Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture (MOTAC) of Malaysia. 

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