PENANG has recorded a positive growth of its domestic tourism since the interstate travel ban has been lifted during the recovery movement control order (RMCO).
Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Penang chairman Khoo Boo Lim said during the weekends, beach hotels have recorded between 70% and 80% occupancy rate while city hotels have chalked up a 40% occupancy rate.
“Meanwhile, the occupancy rate on weekdays is less than 20%. It’s a little bit low but that is understandable because foreign tourists still cannot come here yet as our international borders are still closed.
“Once it has opened, I believe the numbers will definitely pick up.
“Of course, we will try a variety of ways as well to spur some interest for domestic tourists to visit Penang.
“We have over 30 million people living in this country, so if we could attract at least 10% of them, surely it would boost the domestic tourism in the country especially in Penang,” he said when contacted by Buletin Mutiara today.
State Tourism Development, Arts, Culture and Heritage (PETACH) Committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin said there has been a positive sign from the tourism activities in Penang after the resumption of domestic tourism.
“Based on the feedback that I received from hoteliers and hotel associations, I could say that so far, the number of room bookings has increased.
“As a matter of fact, for the past few weeks, I have gone to various places of attractions around Penang. The latest one was in Pulau Jerejak. I could see these places are becoming crowded with local tourists.
“While on the road, I can also see many vehicles with registration number plates from other states.
“Thus, this is such a good indicator and we hope that Penang’s tourism industry will rebound sooner than expected,” he added.
Meanwhile, budget hotel player OYO Hotels and Homes Malaysia (OYO Malaysia) aims to focus on domestic tourism to mitigate the financial impact caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
OYO Malaysia country head Tan Ming Luk said as the interstate travel is now allowed in the RMCO, focusing on domestic tourism is crucial as it is the lifeline of the industry and the key market for tourism recovery.
“We are witnessing a change in consumer behaviour and consumption patterns in the local tourism industry, with domestic tourism taking centre stage.
“Some of the trends we have observed in Malaysia include travel destinations near larger cities, showing extremely high occupancies during weekends, as well as long stays, and also offline partners and customers who are expressing keen interest to understand safety and sanitation protocols.
“This is a good indicator as we see domestic travel whether for business or leisure kickstarting the recovery for the hospitality sector in the country.
“We also see a preference towards independent travel, with local travellers avoiding large tour groups and opting for smaller hotels for their accommodation choices and this is where we come in,” Tan said in a statement to Buletin Mutiara.
Tan said OYO Hotels and Homes is currently present in every state in the country, with over 500 hotels in over 75 cities across Malaysia. In Penang, there are 38 properties offering 886 rooms under OYO.
For G Hotel in Penang, its communication director Christina Tan said the room bookings have increased for the past few weeks after the interstate travel ban was lifted.
“During the weekdays, we got around 20-30 bookings of our hotel rooms and it spiked between 50 and 60 rooms during the weekends.
“And from that numbers, 80% of our clientele were business travellers.
“Thus, this shows that we are slowly regaining our momentum,” she said.
Golden Sands Resort communication director Suleiman Tunku Abdul Rahman said the hotel currently is offering attractive promotions as part of its efforts to increase the occupancy rate among domestic tourists.
“One of our promotions is known as ‘Selamat Kembali – We Miss You’ package whereby our customers can enjoy three nights of stay for the price of two nights at a price of RM700 only.
“For further details regarding the promotions, please visit our website at https://www.shangri-la.com/penang/goldensandsresort/offer-detail/rooms-suites/selamat-kembali-pay-2-stay-3/
“So far, the response that we received has been very encouraging and we hope it will continue as we welcome more domestic tourists,” he said.
Story and pix by Riadz Akmal