The Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry wants to continue until this December the green travel bubble initiative, launched last year, to boost the tourism sector.

Nancy Shukri, its minister, said she took up the issue with ministries concerned.

“The ministry has also proposed that the partnership with airlines be continued under the tourism recovery plan, which is a continuation of the stimulus recovery plan,” she said during a meeting with representatives from the aviation industry, as well as the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) sector, and others.

In response to the suggestion made by Captain Izham Ismail, Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia Airlines Bhd, to expand the one-off incentive under the Travel Bubble programme so that consumers can take advantage of flight ticket discounts.

Nancy said that her ministry has already proposed that five new countries be included in the Reciprocal Green Lane (RGL) and travel bubbles initiatives, in a proposal by AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes to expand the bubble to resolve essential services and businesses

The five countries are Brunei, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia and Japan.

“However, this depends not just on the bilateral agreements between the participating countries, but also in getting the go ahead from the health ministry, foreign ministry, home ministry and the National Security Council,” she said.

Nancy said that Tourism Malaysia would pursue promotional activities until December within the framework of the Joint International Tourism Development Program.