SIMILAR to many other organisations, federations and associations, the Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents (MATTA) is also urging the Government to prioritise and fast-track the vaccination efforts.
Speaking for tourism workers specifically, MATTA reiterates the importance of putting tourism frontline workers at the front of the line, particularly tour operators, drivers, boatmen, tourist guides, hotel staff and other related staff.
Doing so would help push forward the reopening of the country’s economy and its tourism industry.
“The Government has been talking about domestic tourism for the last 15 months to bolster the tourism sector and economy, yet tourism workers have not been given priority. This is disappointing as countries like Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia have all prioritized tourism workers for vaccination. Malaysia unfortunately is lagging far behind,” said Tan, who is also president of the Federation of Asean Travel Association (FATA).
“We must continue to promote domestic tourism aggressively within the country, and therefore tour and travel industry workers must be vaccinated at the very earliest,” he added.
Tan also explained that an expedited vaccination for tourism players would facilitate the recovery of the local tourism industry, especially amongst Bumiputera agents.
This move would provide an opportunity for registered Bumiputera agents to restart their business which has seen up to a drop of up to 97% of their income due to the continuous lockdown.
MATTA had also sent an appeal to Minister of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme Khairy Jamaluddin, seeking to give priority for tourism frontline staff and workers in tour and travel agencies.
“Without a game-plan from the Government and its non-committal wait and see approach on loan moratoriums, financial support, extension of wage subsidy program, waiver of compliance costs, utilities and rental rebate due to MCO 3.0, it has virtually left small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) tourism business and 3.6 million workers dejected” Tan concluded. – May 21, 2021
