KUALA LUMPUR, 16 July 2020: Malaysia’s government should extend the loan moratorium for the ailing tourism industry for another six months according to the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents.
MATTA President Datuk Tan Kok Liang said the tour and travel industry was the hardest hit by the recent Covid-19 outbreak and studies suggest a slower recovering when compared with other sectors of the Malaysian economy.
He warned that if tourism companies closed tourism workers would be driven into bankruptcy by early 2021.
“The Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on 6 July announced that the tourism industry would need four years to recover,” he said in a press statement released 14 July.
“With no firm direction from the Government on the easing of borders, it is only appropriate to request that the Government to order an extension of the moratorium rather than industry players seeking an extension to their respective banks on their own which will likely be turned down.”
“Individual borrowers working in the hospitality and tourism industry should also be given a six-month moratorium extension as many are currently on pay cuts, unpaid leave or have been retrenched. Many do not have the ability to repay their loans under current pressing circumstances, and the rate of unemployment is rapidly increasing.”
The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture estimated the losses suffered by the tourism and culture industry at around MYR45 billion in tourism receipts and about one million workers in the tourism industry in Malaysia could lose their jobs this year.
