PETALING JAYA: With Malaysia immersed in the Omicron wave, opinions are divided on the National Recovery Council’s (NRC) suggestion to reopen the country’s international borders as early as next month.
On one front, industry players, especially those from the tourism, hotel and aviation sectors, are pushing for the reopening of borders without the need for mandatory quarantine.
Countries like Australia, Thailand and the Philippines are already heading in this direction to rescue their struggling tourism industry.
However, some experts think that it is best to delay the reopening of Malaysia’s international borders to avoid falling into a major health crisis.
Daily Covid-19 cases in Malaysia have been skyrocketing in recent days, almost hitting 14,000 cases yesterday although less than 1% of these cases require hospitalisation.
Speaking with StarBiz, Centre for Market Education CEO Dr Carmelo Ferlito supported the reopening of international borders.
He said international mobility does not really have any impact on the virus spread, judging from scientific evidence.
“A recent study from the John Hopkins University showed that the movement restrictions had very little impact on blocking the spread of Covid-19, or 0.2% to be precise.
“This means that if we had 100 deaths with a lockdown, without the lockdown it would have been 100.2 deaths,” he said, adding that the cost of restricting international travel has been extremely high.
For the safe reopening of borders, Ferlito pointed out that conducting polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests before departure and upon arrival would be sufficient.
This should start with business travellers, according to him.
“While much attention is rightly devoted to the huge losses for the tourism and aviation industries when borders are kept closed, not enough emphasis is placed on the fact that long-term investment projects happen only if investors are allowed to enter the country.
“You do not invest in manufacturing plants, warehouses, human resources and so on if you cannot physically see and touch all of this,” he said.
Earlier, IBN Corp Ltd director Megat Khalil Izzuddin Shah said Malaysia’s property market would also be a beneficiary of the reopening of international borders.
“Once customers from overseas are allowed to travel again, we believe that there will be a chance for further growth.
“Some customers from Singapore are starting to come back to Malaysia to shop for properties, and eventually those from East Asia, as well as Europe and America will possibly return in the second half of this year,” he said in a statement.
Yesterday, NRC chairperson Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the council agreed that Malaysia’s borders could be fully opened as early as March 1, 2022, without the need for mandatory quarantine.
“The reopening of the country’s borders must be done in a planned manner and according to current risk assessments,” he said.
Malaysia Budget and Business Hotel Association national deputy president Dr Sri Ganesh Michiel also supported the reopening of international borders, pointing out that the industry is capable of enforcing strict standard operating procedures to contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
“It is also crucial for the government to ensure an adequate supply of workers for the hotel industry, as well as allow the hiring of foreign employees as it is part of the industry’s recovery.
“Hotels are now trying their best to recover, but it will take a long period for the industry to achieve this, as the impact over the past two years had brought the industry to a level where they could not breath.
“Building the confidence of the international tourist in travelling to Malaysia is also very crucial as it will be an important factor towards the recovery of the tourism and hotel industries,” he said.
Last year, Malaysia suffered a severe plunge in tourist arrivals due to the closure of the international borders and the prolonged interstate travel ban.
Within the January to September 2021 period, tourist arrivals fell by 98.3% to 73,309 as compared to 4.3 million a year earlier, according to data from Tourism Malaysia.
Tourist expenditure also fell by 99% year-on-year to RM122.88mil in the January to September 2021 period, from RM12.63bil a year earlier.
The hotel industry was one of the most affected sectors, following the drop in tourist volume.
As a result, between March 2020 and early October 2021, it was reported that a total of 55 hotels nationwide have closed down and over 8,000 hotel industry workers had been laid off during the period.
Sri Ganesh warned that a delay in reopening the borders would derail the recovery of the tourism and hotel industries.
A longer delay in allowing tourists into the country would force hotels to close their operations, he said.
“We may also see more hotels downgrading their services just to achieve more cost savings for their daily minimum operation,” he added.
Economist Manokaran Mottain, however, opined that the government should delay the reopening of international borders by at least three months.
This was considering that the spike in Malaysia’s Covid-19 cases was largely due to imported cases, he said.
“At the moment, the rakyat and their health should be prioritised, beyond the interest of certain sectors.
“Given the Health Ministry’s projection that the Omicron wave will peak in March and decline thereafter, it is best if we reopen the international borders after that,” he said.
Manokaran, who is also a director of Rising Success Consultancy, said the government should look into other ways to help the affected sectors such as tourism.
“The government can consider providing targeted incentives to these sectors, but it must be a win-win situation.
“For example, the government can provide incentives to hotels to help them sustain, but in response, the hotels need to lower their room rates.
“This would in turn spur domestic tourism, while we await the reopening of international borders,” he said.
When asked whether a delayed reopening of the borders would further weaken the ringgit, Manokaran thought it was unlikely.
In fact, he said that the local currency was unlikely to strengthen significantly, even if international travellers were allowed to visit the country again.
“While a reopening may provide support, the ringgit continues to be affected by a number of headwinds including political risks.
“I foresee the current exchange rate levels to continue regardless,” he said.
Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2022/02/09/border-reopening-the-way-to-go