Malaysia eyes green zone regions for travel bubble plan

Nancy Shukri (middle) flanked by Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture’s Noor Zari Hamat (left) and Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau’s Abdul Khani Daud at the Meet in Malaysia campaign launch

Malaysia is exploring the possibility of setting up travel bubbles with green status destinations, as opposed to countries, in efforts to spur economic growth in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Minister of tourism, arts and culture, Nancy Shukri, said the travel bubbles may not involve Malaysia as a whole but only select green zones within the country with other foreign destinations that are also green zones.

She added that the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture will have its first meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on July 27 to identify the green zones in foreign destinations that could collaborate with Malaysia on the proposed travel bubbles.

“The proposal to hold a travel bubble with these countries is based on the potential of the market to contribute to overall economic growth, including trade activities, business, business travellers and the influx of foreign tourists, as well as significant short-term tourism income contribution to the country,” she said at a press conference on Friday, after launching the Meet in Malaysia campaign.

During the campaign launch, Nancy also shared that the ministry is looking at the possibility of creating travel bubbles with green zone regions in Australia, Brunei, China, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

She added: “Its implementation is subject to bilateral discussions with paramount consideration on the aspects of health, immigration, data tracking and continuous monitoring by respective agencies concerned in both countries.”

Nancy stressed that nothing had been finalised and no timeline has been determined for the creation of these travel bubbles.

-TTG Asia.