The tourism industry in Sabah is currently going through the harshest winter, when most industry players have gone into hibernation by shutting down their operations temporarily as they wait for the spring season to arrive, said Datuk Seri Winston Liaw, president of the Sabah Tour and Travel Agents Association (Satta).

Liaw has reported at least RM 1 million losses to his travel agency, Airworld Travel and Tours Sdn Bhd since there has been no business for the past year.

He said that since December of last year his agency has been closed and plans to re-open this year on 1 March.

He said it might be necessary for tourism players to adhere in before the second half of 2021 began to recover.

In Sabah, when the Covid-19 pandemic broke into the state, Liaw said Tourism industry has come to a stop.

“There was almost no business at all in 2020.

“Tourism players have taken various coping measures; most of them opted to close temporarily to ‘stop the bleeding’,” he said.

As the case of Covid-19 in Sabah has fallen and the vaccination programme is on track, he believes the situation is gradually improving.

“We expect the tourism industry to start recover by the end of May or early June this year.”

He said the tourism industry was the top three contributors to Sabah’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He estimated that Sabah has lost at least 90 percent of its tourism receipt when tourists stopped coming to the State.