The Malaysian hotel owners' association (Maho) wants to lift the inter-State travel ban for hotels which suffered massive losses over the past 12 months.

Maho revealed that a meeting took place on Tuesday, during which the situation of the hotel owners was discussed, with the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac).

During the meeting, Maho executive director Shaharuddin M. Saaid  said that there had not been a hotel-spread Covid-19 cluster and that the respective SOPs had been strictly adhered.

“This should be a valid reason to open interstate travel so that hotels and resorts will be able to have guests to sustain the business.

“Hotels have also taken up ‘Clean and Safe Malaysia’ certification programme for sanitising and disinfection for safety of the guests staying at hotels. And all this costs money but we wish to give utmost confidence to our guests when they are staying with us,” Shaharuddin was quoted as saying in the statement.

In addition, he proposed at the meeting other SOPs which would permit visitors to cross state borders, including "proof of confirmed booking with a payment in a licenced and registered hotel."

Last year, Motac reported an estimated loss of RM100 billion by the tourism industry as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting changes in order to control movement (MCO).

In January, the Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysian Hotel Associations (MAH), Yap Lip Seng told the industry that the second MCO, launched this year, is expected to generate over RM 300 million in revenue every two weeks.