Over 1200 hotels in Malaysia are facing miserable time due to the pandemic

By TIN Media | Hospitality Published 3 years ago on 26 May 2020
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KUALA LUMPUR:

About 20 percent of the 1,200 hotels under the Malaysian Hospital Association (MAH) are facing action to shut down operations or postpone them within six months following the COVID-19 pandemic.

President of the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Halim Merican said the action had affected 6,000 employees in the industry who had to be laid off or take unpaid leave over a period of time.

According to him, the matter could continue for more than eight months even though the country is recovering from the outbreak.

"Based on previous surveys since the end of April, the industry is clearly in bad shape and some hotels have had to take a temporary shutdown until the end of the year and some have closed down operations.

"The incident indirectly affected 6,000 workers who had to be laid off and took unpaid leave as hotel operations were not functioning normally," he said in an interview in the AWANI Newsletter on Saturday.

Halim added that although the term of the Conditional Control Order (PKPB) allowed the hotel to operate, the situation was still the same.

This is because he said, the hotel industry is not just about providing accommodation, it is also involved in many aspects especially in aviation and tourism.

"If airlines are not allowed to enter the country, we face the challenge of accepting a visitor.

"Although the government has issued a standard operating procedure (SOP) for hotel operations, our focus is only on domestic tourism at this time," he said.


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