Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac) will review its projected tourist arrivals and receipts in the second half of this year if global travel shows uptick trend, said its minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.

She said travel recovery is still in its early days and her ministry would be monitoring closely the indicators over the next three months following the re-opening of Malaysia’s borders on April 1.

“Motac is targeting 2.2 million arrivals and receipts of RM8.6 billion for 2022 but this could be higher if there are more countries relaxing travel restrictions,” she said.

The minister was speaking at a press conference after officiating revival grants presentation to 16 tourism players and operators including tourist guides, homestay operators, Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) and Tour Operating Business and Travel Agency Business (Tobtab) companies under the tourism industry.

She said the figures will be drastically higher if China allows its citizens to travel as Malaysia is a popular destination.

Motac, she added, is targeting arrivals from Singapore and other countries which have opened its borders in the transition from Covid-19 pandemic to endemic phase.

She said the authorities had registered 24,700 individuals had crossed over from Singapore to Malaysia through Johor Causeway since April 1, mostly returning Malaysians working in Singapore and this had boosted the local economy.

The ministry is also targeting the lucrative meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition (MICE) sector which could bump up arrivals and tourism receipts with families joining participants to Malaysia.

“We look forward to MICE picking up and the figure could be triple the 7,000 targeted as this could also lead to families tagging along, shopping, visits and return trips,” Nancy said.

The ministry also looks forward for the tourism industry to be back vibrantly and has allocated RM85 million in aid to help revitalise tourism and culture sectors and the grants will be disbursed to players in March and May this year.

It has also allocated RM30 million in financial aid for Orchid-status homestay owners that are registered with the ministry for facilities improvement and RM50 million in matching grants for tourism facilities and infrastructures upgrading.

The ministry said all these grant incentives are under its nationwide Jerayawara programme which will end on April 7.

The financial aid recipients in Miri include five tourist guides, five Tobtab companies, one MM2H company and five homestay operators, including those in Bario and Ba Kelalan.

Under this programme, RM9,000 is allocated to each Tobtab and MM2H company, RM3,000 for spa and foot reflexology operators, RM1,500 for tourist guides and RM1,800 for homestay operators.

Also present at the function were Sarawak Minister of Transport Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Datuk Sebastian Ting, Sibuti MP Lukanisman Awang Sauni, Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau and Motac deputy director-general (Culture) Datuk Sarayabinti Arbi.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by PHILIP KIEW

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