Malaysia's tourism industry hit hard, local tour guides switch to drivers and sell insurance

According to Malaysia's Sin Chew Daily, the number of Chinese tourists has dropped sharply due to the outbreak of new crown pneumonia, and Malaysia's tourism industry has been hit hard.

A few days ago, Malaysian Hotel Association Chairman Kamaluddin pointed out that due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, as of February 17, more than 157,000 hotel room reservations in Malaysia had been cancelled, causing about 66 million ringgit losses.

Even though the Malaysian government announced a series of economic policies to assist the tourism industry on February 27, the assistance can be very limited in the absence of tourists. In the long run, the tourism industry still faces a severe blow.

Guides learn extra skills in class

Liu Yusheng, chairman of the Malaysian Joint Tourist Guide Association, said that the association arranged for members some other professional training courses, such as direct sales, so that they can master additional skills and find livelihoods during this difficult time. In order to make a living, some tour guides have switched to drivers, insurance, direct sales, hawkers, and so on, pending the "cold winter" of the tourism industry.

He confessed that in recent years, Malaysia's tourism industry has been unsatisfactory because of competition from other countries such as Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and other countries. "In fact, the tourism industry in Malaysia has been deteriorating in the past two years," he said.

He said that in addition to the increasing number of tour guides, there are more than 16,000 tour guides in Malaysia. Many new tour guides can only take one tour group each month, or even no one. To make matters worse.

He said that although there are many tour groups during the Spring Festival in general, during the Spring Festival in 2020, the new crown pneumonia outbreak broke out, and many groups have been cancelled since the New Year's Day, and now there are no groups.

He believes that in addition to Chinese tourists, tourists from other countries will also decrease, because everyone is worried about the spread of the epidemic.

Liu Yusheng, who has been in the business for more than 20 years, has experienced SARS and knows the fragility of the tourism industry and the importance of taking precautions. Therefore, he has a habit of saving on weekdays. This severe winter in the tourism industry can still be dealt with. He said, "The hardest part is a tour guide who joined the industry 4 or 5 years ago. At that time, the environment was good. If I could make money, I would buy a car and buy a house. Now I suddenly have no income. It is really hard."

Epidemic losses in tourism industry during Chinese New Year

Liang Weihong, acting director of the Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association, mentioned that during the Chinese New Year's peak tourist season, about 3,600 to 4,000 Chinese tourist groups were coming, because of the outbreak, everyone suffered heavy losses. Sudden changes have taken some businesses by surprise, and the deposits already delivered to hotels and restaurants ca n’t be collected. Faced with huge losses, some travel agencies require employees to suspend their pay and leave for two months, and some even start on social media. Sell your own tourist bus. Moreover, the larger the travel agency, the greater the pressure.

Liang Weihong believes that the tourism industry is a very fragile industry and it depends on food. In addition to disease, the economy and war will also affect the tourism industry.

She also pointed out, "A lot of people will panic because their direct income is interrupted. So during this time, people who have not planned before can learn from it, or they can check for gaps and discuss how to improve. We say that crisis, there are Danger is organic. "

She believes that the sustainable development of tourism can go further, and requires government leadership, business cooperation, and the support of the whole people. The development industry has its own methods to push. "