The Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Penang Chairman Raj Kumar states that vaccination passports for overseas travellers will only work properly if hotel employees are also vaccinated.

“Guests who arrive with vaccination passports will stay with confidence if the entire hotel workforce has also been vaccinated.

“Otherwise, it will be hard to track down and contain cases found in hotels, ” he said.

Raj said international tourists comprise more than half of the hotels in Penang, and on average are spending approximately five times as much as house tourists.

Chairman of the Penang tourist guides organisation,Chin Poh Chin has said about 700 which are in Penang out of 14,000 tourist guides are still being vaccinated in the country.

“Some members aged above 70 have received their vaccines but that’s due to their age group and not because they are tourist guides.

“Introducing the vaccination passport will definitely help us as we depend highly on foreign tourists.

“The passport will address concerns of exposure within a group and not just allow foreign tourists to arrive and take up our service, but also allow us to be tour leaders and bring locals out, ” she said.