According to Malaysian Hotel Association (MAH)  president Datuk N.Subramaniam, the government has been urged to put tourism and hospitality sector on the priority list of the vaccination program following frontlineers and together with other hig-risk groups.

He said the tourism and hospitality industries employ 3.6 million people and are one of the major contributors to the country's economy.

“We must prepare and assure the world that Malaysia is ready to receive international tourists once the borders reopen.

“We must be ready for recovery and maintain our tourism capacity as well as our competitiveness in the region,” he said in a statement.

Since the second MCO was implemented at the beginning of January and with the rise in the number of cases reported by the COVID-19 every day, there are reportedly more hotels close or are preparing to shut down.

He stated that this is the harsh reality of the industry and unofficially, since March 2020 more than 100 hotels have stopped operating with more than 7,000 employees affected, with the remainder either on a long pay cut or unpaid leave.

“Immediate help is needed to keep hotels afloat, and MAH has submitted a 19-point proposal for immediate assistance for the hotel industry to the government in an emergency meeting with the Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture (MOTAC) yesterday,” he said.