KUCHING: Of the 136 member hotels under the Malaysia Budget Hotels Association Sarawak Chapter, 99 of them were closed during the first and second phases of the movement control order (MCO), said its chairman Stephen Wong.
“Whether it is permanent, we are not sure at this point in time. We, MyBHA headquarters and Sarawak Chapter, are carrying out a survey at the moment during the recovery movement control order (RMCO),” he told New Sarawak Tribune when contacted on Friday.
In clarifying MyBHA Sarawak Chapter former chairman Lau Nai Meng’s earlier statement that he had heard about 100 budget hotels in the state were intending to halt operations due to the strain caused by Covid-19, Wong said that this was in fact a correct figure based on a survey the association had conducted among their members during the first and second phases of the MCO.
He said that many of their members were attempting to reopen during the RMCO, while some were still negotiating with their respective landlords for the outstanding rental incurred during the MCO phases.
“As for MyBHA’s efforts, we have written to the Sarawak government to seek assistance in a few aspects,” he said.
On how hotels will fare in the next few months, he was of the view that a few matters would have to be cleared before moving into the hotel industry recovery period.
Firstly, he noted that air tickets were currently very expensive, which would not be of help to the Sarawakian hotel industry.
“However, the situation will certainly improve once the capacity of planes is increased. Business and medical travellers are still travelling to Sarawak. Inter-divisional travel is yet to pick up,” he said.
Wong said that travellers’ confidence needed to be reconstructed, adding that hotel standard operating procedures (SOPs) such as social distancing, hygiene, disinfecting, housekeeping standards, and the personal hygiene and health of hotel staff were the prioritised concerns now.
“Hoteliers need to really focus and practise these SOPs to regain customers’ confidence,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said that hoteliers had essentially missed the peak season for tourism activities while the second half of the year up to the year-end holidays was still uncertain.
He urged the government to roll out a tourism plan as soon as possible and open up the borders once conditions permitted in order to create business opportunities.
He agreed with economic studies saying that the service industry (tourism) was the first sector to feel the impact of the pandemic and the last to recover.
Addressing hoteliers in Sarawak, Wong urged, “We hope and welcome more hoteliers to join us. Let’s unite and work things out and make survival possible.”
