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Malaysian Association of Hotels president Christina Toh said Nancy continuously reached out to stakeholders to get their input.
“She got the private sector to participate in joint meetings to come up with ways to improve and reset tourism in Malaysia,” she told FMT.
Toh added that Nancy and her team were a lot more proactive in comparison to other ministries in working towards improving the hotel industry.
She said the ministry had organised domestic travel fairs at shopping malls which helped create awareness about domestic tourism.
“There was also the hotel e-voucher initiative of up to RM100 which was especially helpful because it encouraged people to travel more around Malaysia,” she said.
Nancy allocated RM1.4 million for the redemption vouchers initiative between October and December 2021.
Many people, Toh said, assumed the tourism and hotel industry had fully recovered, but after two-and-a-half years, the industry had taken a hit income-wise, making it difficult to upkeep building facilities.
Toh hoped other ministries would support the tourism, arts and culture ministry in expanding assistance to the hotel industry.
Malaysia Budget and Business Hotel Association president Ganesh Michiel said the RM30 million matching grant for the upgrading of budget hotels and homestays was “very helpful”.
“It should be introduced again next year as hoteliers may not have been able to fully utilise it in such a short period,” he said.
The grant was introduced in June and will end in December.
Ganesh hoped the government would continue to focus on helping the tourism sector with a dedicated stimulus package for the industry.
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