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KUALA LUMPUR: Tourism industry players are pinning their hopes on 2021, and the reopening of international borders tops their wish list.
But while waiting for that to happen, they are eager to make the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry's domestic travel bubble initiative a success.
Sunway Malls and Theme Parks is hoping to cash in on the year-end festive season and school holidays to kick-start the 2021 financial year.
Chief executive officer H.C. Chan said targeting domestic travellers during this period could revive the industry while waiting for the international borders to reopen.
"We foresee some business recovery with the festive season and school holidays this year, and perhaps again at the beginning of next year for the Lunar New Year.
"We hope to see a V-shaped recovery in the fourth quarter of this year, similar to what we saw during the first Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO).
"From there, we expect the recovery to be slow, gradual and protracted in the first half of next year. With the introduction of the vaccines, we expect the recovery to reach 90 per cent of normalcy in the second half of 2021.
"Our footfall and sales hit a normalisation rate of around 50 to 60 per cent across our malls in the first week of this month.
"We are expecting a better performance by our malls as the CMCO restrictions are gradually eased," he told the New Straits Times.
Reflecting on 2020, Chan said the tourism industry must maintain "gold standards" of safety, health and hygiene to survive potential outbreaks.
"For Sunway Malls and Theme Parks, these three aspects have always been a priority.
"Hence, we were quick to roll out safety and hygiene measures with our partners, increasing the frequency of sanitisation operations and installing thermal scanners during the first round of the MCO in March."
Meanwhile, Genting Malaysia said the completion of its outdoor theme park, Genting Skyworlds, will be its top priority next year.
The theme park, targeted to open in mid-2021, will house international-class movie-themed attractions and feature, among others, movies from 20th Century Fox.
"The implementation of the CMCO in a majority of the states in Malaysia has affected our business this year.
"However, we have re-engineered our processes to create a safe environment for all our visitors, employees, business partners and the community," its spokesman said.
The aviation sector also shares similar hopes after the pandemic kept it grounded for most of this year.
Malaysia Airlines group chief executive officer Captain Izham Ismail said the airline would focus on three aspects in 2021: assist global vaccine distribution, reconnect global economies and revitalise businesses to help workers.
"We will also continue to support the government's initiatives to encourage domestic holidays and travels with ongoing promotions while we prepare for the gradual reopening of international borders.
"We remain hopeful for the global aviation industry to return to its pre-Covid-19 situation, faster than our prediction of recovery in Q2 to Q3 2022 for the domestic and Asean market, with the international (or intercontinental) market recovering in 2024."
Moving forward, Izham called on airline companies to strive towards making the aviation industry pandemic-resilient.
"Airline companies should have better contingency plans and establish better fences around the company to absorb shocks, and they need to be flexible to operation changes accordingly.
"Preparing for the digital workforce is also paramount, hence more investment in upskilling and reskilling employees needs to run in tandem.
"The aviation industry will prosper once again if we come out of this crisis more prepared."
-nst online.
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