A SELANGOR lawmaker urged the Government to consider reopening borders to allow inoculated tourists and business travellers to arrive in Malaysia, to rejuvenate the economy.
“Now that 225 million vaccine shots have been given worldwide, it is high time that Malaysia considers reopening its borders to tourists and business travellers who have been vaccinated.
“The number of vaccinated people will be increasing as time goes by and we should not hesitate to move forward. If we open up before Thailand and Indonesia, we will reap a lot of benefits,” Rajiv Rishyakaran told FocusM.
Since the Pfizer vaccines arrived last month, the Malaysian Government has embarked on its first phase of the National COVID-19 Vaccination Programme, inoculation frontliners and political leaders.
One of the earliest people to receive the Pfizer vaccines was Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Touching on the matter, Rajiv said that several countries across the globe have reopened their borders to vaccinated travellers, allowing them to even skip quarantine.
He stated that the tourism industry is the third biggest contributor to Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP), after manufacturing and commodities.
“In 2018, tourism contributed RM 94.5 bil or 5.9% of the country’s GDP. The air transport industry, including airliners and its supply chain, are estimated to support US$5.2 bil of GDP in Malaysia.
“In total, 3.5% of the country’s GDP is supported by inputs from the air transport sector and foreign tourists arriving by air,” the Bukit Gasing state assemblyman said.
Vaccine passports
However, both industries have declined sharply due to the pandemic, triggering debt restructuring, lay-offs, bailouts and even bankruptcy last year, at great expense to Malaysia’s economy.
“Therefore, Malaysia could revive and rejuvenate its tourism and airline industries if we capitalise on this opportunity. If we become the first Asean country to open up our borders, we will be able to capture all the tourists who wish to travel after being in lockdown for so long.
“With the meeting, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions (MICE) sectors allowed to reopen, this is will attract business travellers and revitalise the country’s international trade,” Rajiv opined.
He added that Malaysia should target US and European tourists and business travellers, as they spend a lot on travels.
“This is a good time as winter is upon those nations now. They will spend a lot on our food, hotels and other travelling expenses,” Rajiv opined.
On how to go about it, he said that Malaysia could implement what other nations are doing, by coming up with a health travel pass or a vaccination passport.
Rajiv added that the countries which have opened their borders require a vaccination passport and some of them even require a negative PCR test, 72 hours before travelling.
“So, all we need to do is emulate, and maybe refine, the strategies and safety measures implemented by these nations soon to boost our country’s economy.
“For now, even business travellers can’t come in, which is a disruption for us in getting more business opportunities.
“If we wait until next year to reopen our borders, the negative economic impact to the tourism and airline industries, and by extension our country, could be irreversible,” he stressed. – Mar 1, 2021.
