KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 — The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac) today said that the projected average occupancy rate (AOR) for this year is 27.8 per cent, a slight increase from last year’s 25.4 per cent.
Motac said this in a response to the statement of Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng, who said that the projected AOR released by the ministry at 61.1 per cent last year and 58.4 per cent for this year was absurd, false and unrealistic, and that will damage the people’s confidence.
“The said projection was before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country and before the implementation of the movement control order (MCO), conditional MCO, enhanced MCO, and the implementation of MCO 2.0.
“The 2020 projection is 25.4 per cent while for this year it is 27.8 per cent without taking account of the implementation of MCO 2.0,” said the ministry in a statement today.
Lim was quoted to have said that in an article entitled “Guan Eng accuses Putrajaya of inaction as Malaysia’s hotels, tourism wither and die” published in an English-language newspaper on Jan 26.
To monitor the performance of the hotels’ AOR during the Covid-19 pandemic, Motac has collaborated with industry players’ associations, especially the Malaysian Hotel Association (MAH), it said.
“The government is always concerned and aware of the challenges faced by tourism and cultural industry players, especially hotel operators, following the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In an effort to help tourism industry players, Motac collaborates with the Ministry of Health and other relevant ministries to jointly address the challenges faced by the industry,” it said.
Motac has also set up the Tourism Recovery Action Committee (TRAC) as well as held several sessions to engage industry players to get feedback and identify the best methods to help address the challenges.
Apart from that, Motac, through Tourism Malaysia, will continue to work with all parties including the hotel industry, to invigorate the country’s domestic tourism.
The ministry will implement cooperation under the Domestic Tourism Recovery Plan for 2021 to further assist the survivability of the country’s domestic tourism industry, including accommodation entities, transportation, travel packages (including for frontliners and civil servants), shopping discounts and eco-tourism. — Bernama
