MELAKA: Hotels in the historical city are gearing up to welcome guests after June 10. However, occupancy rates are only expected to return to pre-Covid-19 levels next year.
Melaka Tourism Association acting president Sazali Sabri said an upswing in domestic travel after June 10 would definitely help the hotels, many of which had reported zero revenue the past few months.
“Hoteliers are thankful to the government for the various stimulus measures for the tourism industry. Now, we have to come up with innovative ideas to expedite the recovery by attracting domestic travellers.
“Allowing interstate travel during the recovery movement control order (MCO) period is another boost for the industry
“Many hotels here have started receiving calls for bookings for June 10 onwards.
“However, the calls were not exponentially high. We are expecting higher walk-in registrations after June 10, ” he said yesterday.
According to Sazali, Melaka has an estimated 18,000 rooms to offer despite the closure of several hotels impacted by the Covid-19 crisis.
Sazali said the industry needed time to rebuild as it was highly dependent on Singaporean and Indonesian tourists.
“I anticipate that the situation would only start returning to normal in December or during the 2021 Lunar New Year celebration, ” he said.
Meanwhile, Bayou Lagoon Park Resort CEO Datuk Marco Seow said his resort had started offering special discounts to domestic travellers.
He said guests could book during the recovery MCO period and choose to stay after June 10.
Casa del Rio, another hotel here, has also announced that it will be fully open on June 12 and has started offering discounts.
The lifting of the ban on interstate travel has also prompted a travel agency to introduce specially designed packages for domestic travellers.
BMC Travel managing director Billy Leong said the aim was to help various segments of the tourism industry, such as tour bus operators and souvenir shops to survive the crisis.
Leong said his company held on to all its employees despite seeing zero business since January.
“Through this domestic travel packages, we hope to revive the local tourism industry and help players, including eateries, to sustain their businesses, ” he added.
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