KUCHING: The Covid-19 pandemic has severely impacted various tourism industry players in Sarawak, with total losses amounting to RM368mln.
Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said among the affected sectors were travel and tour agencies, with RM108mln in losses.
He added the virus also impacted 1,728 employees including 216 licensed travel agents.
“Tourist guides or national park tour guides have suffered a loss of RM15 million. There are 277 licensed tour guides here,” he disclosed in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.
He said the hotel sector had experienced a loss of RM60mil, involving 6,889 workers and 22,061 hotel rooms.
“Another affected industry related to the tourism sector is the food and beverage (F&B) industry. When restaurants were closed and with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) in place, the result was a loss of RM82mln.”
He pointed out that Sarawak’s handicraft and souvenir industry was also very much affected by the reduction in tourist numbers, causing RM12mln in losses.
Besides this, he said the business events industry was also hindered as a result of the pandemic, among other tourism-related sectors.
According to Abdul Karim, Sarawak experienced a drastic 65.67 percent drop in the number of tourists from January to September this year compared to the same period last year.
He said Sarawak received 1,155,754 visitors from January to September this year, compared to 3,366,922 for the same period last year.
“For the whole of last year, Sarawak received 4.66 million visitors with a total of RM11.57bil in tourism receipts, contributing 8.72 percent to Sarawak’s overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP).”
He also said the tourist arrivals in Sarawak last year saw an increase of 5.22 percent compared to 2018.
“The tourism industry is among the industries most negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister in Sarawak, I can definitely feel the impact as we always engage with tourism industry players.”
