KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Association of Tour and\nTravel Agents (MATTA) has urged the government to put in place mechanism to prevent\nthe unnecessary hardships to the people and the remaining tourists still\nholidaying in Malaysia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although MATTA welcomes the measures taken Prime\nMinister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to restrict the movement of the people\neffective today (Wednesday) until March 31 to contain the Covid-19 outbreak,\nbut it should prepare the frequently asked questions to clear the people\nconfusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its president, Datuk Tan Kok Liang said yesterday: \u201cAlthough\nit was a bold and decisive move by the government, industry players are\nconcerned that some hotels are closing down as their operations are not listed\nunder essential services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut if these hotels cease operations until month\nend and guests are asked to check out by noon today, how are they going to fend\nfor themselves? Guest cannot be expected to proceed to the airport and catch\nthe next flight home as easily as commuters taking a train home after work.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf hotels are not classified as essential service\nunder existing laws, then exceptions should be made. It would be problematic to\nkick out foreign tourists that we have welcomed with open arms earlier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAlso, some are long staying guests at hotels, and\nthey include rich retirees and expatriates working here. It is sufficient to\nbar entry of tourists without having to repatriate those already in the\ncountry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe also have to bear in mind that hotels are\nneeded by transient workers such as oil and gas, shipping and airline crews.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the restriction order should provide\nsufficient notice and be clearly spelt out and not perceived as 24-hour curfew,\nwhich will result in panic buying and hoarding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To clear the confusion, he called on the government\nto make another announcement to inform that hotels should not be closed, and no\nguests be ejected, as food, clothing and shelter are basic needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cForeign tourists already in Malaysia should be\nallowed to complete their tours. At the point of the press release, in-house\ntour groups are getting panicky due to lack of clarification. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAlso, as the aviation industry is considered as\nessential services, business premises providing air ticketing services should\nbe allowed to operate with reduced manpower\u201d, Tan said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) has urged the government to put in place mechanism to prevent the unnecessary hardships to the people and the remaining tourists still holidaying in Malaysia. Although MATTA welcomes the measures taken Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to restrict the movement of the people…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=278"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278\/revisions\/279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}