Langkawi Operators still Unclear with SOPS

The Langkawi Travel Bubble in full swing since September 16

Langkawi operators are still unclear on the SOPs in force for the opening of the state for visitors, says local operators to Business Today.

Karina Bahrin, owner of La Pari-Pari, a boutique resort located in Pantai Tengah of the holiday island says that many resort operators and restaurants across the board in Langkawi are still unsure of the SOPs as they were told to operate at Phase 4 level, which means at full capacity, yet they are afraid to do so and are only operating at half capacity.

Karina says that despite the overall large influx of visitors to Langkawi, she sees a trickling of customers to her place at the moment, a 10-15% occupancy since it is still early days and her resort is a rather niche and small establishment. She sees the large group of visitors mainly headed towards the larger hotels at present.

“What most of us are doing is we’re assuming the strictest measures, which is Phase one,” she says.

La Pari-Pari also operates a restaurant called the Fat Squid, available for dine-in. Karina says the usual pre-covid capacity used to be 50-60 customers at a time, but now since observing strict SOPs, the restaurant only takes in 30 customers for social distancing purposes. The majority of diners come from Langkawi Island itself, she observes.

With the Langkawi Travel Bubble in full swing since September 16, as many 2,546 people were screened at the air and sea entryway to Langkawi island. This involved 1,250 people who were screened at four airport entryways and 1,296 people at the Kuala Perlis ferry terminal according to Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

“The results are as follows: Some 2,528 took a RTK-Ag test, and of this number, five Covid-19 positive cases were detected,” he said.

“On Saturday September 18, a total of 2,507 individuals were screened through the Langkawi Tourism Bubble Pilot Project. Only one Covid-19 positive individual was identified through RTK-Ag at KLIA2. The Category 1 positive case was given a ten-day quarantine Home Surveillance Order (HSO),” he added.

Entry into Langkawi is only by sea and air, and authorities are ensuring only fully vaccinated tourists who have been screened for Covid-19 can set foot on the island.

These safety screenings and precautionary action that was taken by the government have been reassuring to business operators in Langkawi, helping them know that those allowed into the island are safe and won’t be spreading the virus via entry.

The government has also brought in enforcement authorities into Langkawi to monitor and enforce SOPs around the island.

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