KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agents (MATTA) has called on the government to put in place necessary measures following its decision to impose a total lockdown from June 1 to 14.
We welcome the Prime Minister s announcement on this new approach as this is a positive step. He acknowledged that there needed to be a more holistic and scientific approach rather than imposing a total lockdown on an entire state or area. Travel restrictions were the main crunch that industry was facing, its president Datuk Tan Kok Liang said on Wednesday (March 17).
Tan also said the special RM3,000 grant to more than 5,000 tour agencies registered with Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry was a step forward in helping those badly affected by the pandemic. We had asked for a RM10,000 grant when we met the tourism minister recently but RM3,000 was announced instead.
Airlines have been urged to provide refunds for cancelled flights due to Covid-19 restrictions. - AZHAR MAHFOF/The Star Offering full refunds for cancelled flight tickets should be a convention among airlines, says the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta). It is a matter of principle to provide refunds for cancelled air tickets as most services are still not rendered due to the extraordinary situation, ” said Matta vice president (Air Transportation) Shazli Affuat Ghazali.
He was commenting on the recent demand made by the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) for airlines to issue full refunds on flight tickets cancelled because of Covid-19 restrictions.
MELAKA: Close to 50% of tourism players in the historic state have wound up, based on the number of membership renewals with the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) for this year.
MATTA Melaka Chapter chairman Goh Hock Gin said only about 40 of 80 tourism players had renewed their memberships for 2021, indicating that half the industry is no longer in business.
“This is a sad state of affairs for the tourism industry and we need the state government to look into our plight, ” he said in an interview on Monday (Feb 22).
Goh said most of those still active had also not resumed operations because interstate and interdistrict travel are still not allowed during the conditional movement control order.