Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said that the government is considering opening Malaysia’s borders to help boost the tourism industry.
According to the minister, she has received many requests from those in the local tourism industry to consider opening borders after months of closing the boarder to curb the virus Covid-19. This gesture is to help keep the tourism industry afloat.
“We are now working at negotiating with countries such as Singapore, Brunei, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and New Zealand which have been identified as Green Zones,” she said.
However, due to the recent spike of Covid-19 cases, she said the delicate matter has to be discussed further and it involves other ministries as well – especially Ministry of Health (MOH) to ensure the step taken next which is reopening the country’s borders are allowde and also the right decision.
When asked by news reporter whether the green travel bubble did help to resuscitate the local tourism industry, Nancy said “Yes, even some of the hotels such as in Langkawi are fully booked. So it has been a good initiative.
Green travel bubble scheme to boost the local tourism industry
Green travel bubble is an initiative that emerges in the wake of of the closure of many tourism and hotel operators hard-hit by the pandemic. Under the tourism recovery plan, it has three main objectives. “First is to restore the people’s confidence to travel again, second is to revive the domestic tourism industry, and finally to maximise the available resources.”
Nancy also urged visitors from the green zones travelling to other places for holidays to fully practice government’s standard operating procedures (SOPs) especially maintaining social distancing during their travels.
“We do not want the number of Covid-19 cases getting high after the government has approved the green travel bubble because, at the end of the day, it will affect the economy, especially our tourism sector,” she said.
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