SIMUNJAN: Malaysia will be having bilateral meetings with various countries in preparation for international travel soon, said Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.
The Federal Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister revealed that in two weeks’ time, her ministry (Motac) would be discussing the matter with the ministers from Asean and the Middle East countries.
“We will be in contact with them to talk about the standard operating procedures (SOPs), their insights as well as quarantine orders needed for the travellers. Though we have drafted our SOPs to propose to the National Security Council (MKN), we still need other countries’ feedback.
“Additionally, we (Motac) will also be discussing how to promote Malaysia from the tourism bubbles we have created before the bilateral meetings,” she said during her visit to the site of a proposed new Bank Rakyat ATM and MEPS in Simunjan yesterday (Oct 2).
“Malaysia will be starting off with Langkawi because it has its own international airport as well as its own island.
“Opening up Langkawi internationally will make it easier for us to control the entries of tourists who will be undergoing swab tests before entering.
“Actually, we are supposed to add Melaka and Genting Highlands to our tourism bubbles. However, it will be hard for us to enforce the SOPs at places as vast as Melaka.
“Taking that into consideration, we concur with the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to postpone the announcement and decision to this month,” she disclosed.
Commenting further on the reopening of the tourism spots in Malaysia, Nancy explained that all islands were allowed to operate but strictly for interstate travel only.
“As a government, we need to give opportunities to the opening of economic sectors, especially the tourism sectors. The income of this sector is solely dependent on the tourists and buyers.
“If it were to remain closed, not only our economic growth will be badly affected, the employees from these sectors will not have any income. That is why we need to encourage our people to spend their money in our country,” she stressed.
