The Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) said in addition to the government's incentive to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a special package specifically for tourism stakeholders is needed.

Its chief executive officer Yap Lip Seng said the government's announcement was positive and would alleviate cash-flow issues for SMEs – especially payroll matters – during the movement control order (MCO) period, but noted that the blanket subsidy did not address industries more impacted than others.

"There is a need to look at tourism, and perhaps, a special package specifically for tourism stakeholders.

“The reason for this is simple; tourism is hit twice as hard – if not three times more – than any other industry. A generic economic stimulus package that helps all is obviously not enough to keep tourism afloat.

“Our survey shows average occupancy levels dropping to 25% and less in the coming months and we do not expect it to improve for another six months at least.

"If we study the demographics of Malaysia’s tourist arrivals in 2019 – the top three arrivals being Singaporeans, Indonesians and Chinese took 64% of the total arrivals – that is the minimum percentage of business we are losing or lost for year 2020, ” he said in a statement on Monday (April 6).

Yap noted that hotels are not expected to make any profit with an occupancy rate lower than 40%, adding that the hotel industry in the country is not on track to even reach 30% this year if the situation persists.

"In the past two weeks, the industry already received reports of hotels closing down... and more might be forced to do the same in the next few months," he said.

Yap noted that MAH had earlier submitted its proposals to Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, among others, suggesting a minimum tourism industry wage subsidy of RM1,000 per employee with pay less than RM4,000 or 50% of their salaries.

"For employees with monthly wages of RM4,000 to RM8,000, MAH proposed a 30% subsidy for up to six months.

“There are a couple of other proposals specific for the tourism and hotel industry... not touched on in this announcement and we are guessing that there will be another just for tourism, ” he said.

Earlier, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin unveiled a special stimulus package worth RM10bil aimed at small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in a bid to soften the impact of the MCO.