Malaysians may soon be able to fly into Langkawi island if the plan to vaccinate at least 80% of the population is achieved.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced yesterday that the government is currently studying the views and feedback from stakeholders on plans to make Langkawi Island a pilot project for a tourism bubble destination.
In a statement yesterday, Muhyiddin noted that the Ministry of Health, as well as medical experts, has so far advised the government to only implement this plan when 80% of the population is vaccinated.
He also said that the people allowed to travel to Langkawi will only be limited to individuals who have received full vaccination.
At this stage, Muhyiddin said that the proposal is currently being studied by Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri and will be finalised through a series of discussions.
“This plan is important for the government to revitalise the tourism industry after more than a year of being affected by the pandemic.
“Besides Langkawi Island, the government also has plans to implement a tourism bubble approach in more destinations, especially those that have good methods of controlling the movement of tourists such as other resort islands throughout the country,” he added.
The tourism ministry said last month that Langkawi alongside Kuching had been selected as pilot travel destinations for the three-phase Covid-19 Free Destination Programme.
The programme will to be expanded to other resort islands such as Redang, Perhentian, Pangkor and Tioman under the second phase, as well as main attractions in states like Johor, Melaka, Penang and Sabah.
It is worth noting that fully vaccinated individuals are defined as those who have received two doses of Covid-19 vaccine for more than 14 days, or 28 days for single-dose vaccine.
