By V. Sivaji
Penang goes a step further to ensure the health and safety of visitors to the state by launching its own guidelines applicable for tourists and tourism operators.
On hand at the launching ceremony held at the Angsana Teluk Bahang Penang was State Exco for Tourism and Creative Economy, Yeoh Soon Hin.
Also present were tourism stakeholders led by Penang MOTAC director Jonathan Freddy Bagang, Deputy CPO Penang Dato Fisol Salleh, Malaysian Association of Hotels Penang Chapter chairman, Raj Kumar, Penang Tourism Malaysia deputy director Siti Hajar and PCEB CEO, Ashwin Gunasekaran.
“Our initiative is to ensure Penang’s recovery in the tourism economy can work in tandem with efforts invested to quell the virus and facilitate smooth public transition from a pandemic to endemic.
“These measures are implemented to complement the other common practices such as checking in and out via MySejahtera temperature check, regular sanitisation of public spaces, physical distancing, double masking and provision of ample hand sanitisers,” said Yeoh in his address.
He also encouraged operators to conduct Covid self-test for their employees every two weeks. As for those travelling to Penang, they can self-test prior to travelling to Penang.
In the meantime, Yeoh disclosed that the Association of Tourist Attractions Penang (ATAP) recorded some 27,059 visitors for 14 attractions from Oct 11 till Oct 19, 2021.
MAH Penang recorded 65% occupancy in Seberang Perai hotels, 75% for beach hotels, 45% for city hotels, 70% for Georgetown UNESCO site area and 50% for hotels in Bayan Lepas.
Others present were Vergis Mathew (Matta Penang), Datuk Lim Mee Lee (Penang Budget Hotel chairman), Khoo Boo Lim (MAH Central), Ch’ng Huck Cheng (ATAP) and Ken Tan (Penang Air Asia).
