MATTA urges Putrajaya to come up with improved plan to aid travel industry

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The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) has urged the government to construct an improved plan for the travel industry due to the re-imposed Movement Control Order (MCO) and the poor predictions for travels this year.

MATTA President, Tan Kok Liang, said tour and travel agents have been combating collapsing revenue and liquidity problems since the start of the outbreak and the efforts from the government have not been significant in this industry.

“2020’s gross domestic product (GDP) total loss exceeded RM100 billion due to the Covid-19 outbreak. With the hotel industry expecting more closures due to the MCO 2.0, travel agents are likely to see the same fate,”

“The loan moratorium and the enhanced wage subsidy programme must be given extension by the government. The Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs) in Malaysia have barely survived the first MCO. Now, they need relief on rental, insurance and statutory licensing fees to make it through the second one,” the President added.

The Association has also urged the government to make necessary corrections to the outdated Tourism Industry Act 1992 which is to resolve the issues on deposits held by airlines and related service providers.

This practice needs to add buses  in it so the buses will be utilised for purposes other than tourism.

“The tourism industry has been burdened by bureaucracy and over-governance affecting the industry’s regional and global competitiveness such as overlapping decisions by multiple government agencies has suppressed the industry over the years,”

“Under the Covid-19 outbreak, there will be no longer ‘business as usual’ and MATTA urges government agencies to create immediate policy changes to ease the financial burdens of the tourism industry,” Tan concluded.

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