LETTER | An English daily recently published “Tourism industry can survive these hard times” written by two senior lecturers from a local university. But disappointingly, there were no substantive pointers to support the claim which is contrary to the reality on the ground.

Perhaps my views are radically different as I have never formally studied tourism and have only gleaned some knowledge from working in travel sectors, engaging with peers and authorities and conducting training for industry players and academics, some with a PhD in tourism.

One of the most meaningful ways to look at the local tourism industry is to examine the various components of visitors’ expenditure. These figures are revised annually by the Department of Statistics, which releases the Domestic Tourism Survey at the end of every June.

Last year, the eight major components were shopping (37.8%), automotive fuel (15%), food & beverage (14.3%), visited households (10.2%), accommodation (8.4%), transportation (6.2%), other activities (5%) and expenses that include before the trip, packages and entrance fees (3.1%).

The total expenditure by all domestic visitors, which included excursionists making day trips and tourists that spent overnight away from home, was RM103.2 billion. Balik kampung during festive holidays and staying in family homes were also counted for domestic tourism.

As for inbound tourism, the 11 major revenues derived from foreign tourists were from shopping (35.3%), accommodation (23.3%), food & beverage (10.8%), local transport (7.7%), international airfares (6.4%), organised tours (5.3%), medical (5%), domestic airlines (2.2%), entertainment (1.7%), fuel (0.9%) and others (1.4%).

From the expenditures of both domestic visitors and foreign tourists, it is clear that the seven major tourism sectors are retail outlets at shopping malls and shophouses, hotels and unlicensed residences that provide accommodation for tourists, restaurants offering food and beverage, trains, buses, taxis and e-hailing vehicles that transport travellers, airlines flying international and domestic flights, companies that operate tours, and attractions with entertainment facilities.

Scrutinising how these seven major sectors are faring will provide an accurate picture of the overall tourism industry. As for retail outlets, shopping malls have seen a huge drop in footfalls since the movement control order was introduced on March 18. While malls have remained open, many tenants have closed shop, and more are closing. New malls under construction are likely to delay their opening for as long as they can.

Retailers located at shophouses also suffered the same fate, particularly those catering to visitors, with those in Johor Bahru a clear example. Entire rows of shophouses are for sale or to let and likely to remain vacant for years. Many retailers have succumbed to this pandemic but to say that they can survive during these hard times is like rubbing salt into the wound.

As for hotels, it did not take long for many to realise that their business is no longer sustainable and they shut down without delay instead of continuing to operate and bleed to a slow death. Even operators that rent out accommodation in private residences are in big trouble as they have bought or leased properties hoping to cash in on the demand for unlicensed hotel rooms.

Restaurants that were overly dependent on tourists and excursionists have shuttered or will soon go under. Those that are surviving are patronised by the local community, either by dining in, through takeaway or food delivery after taking orders through apps, phone calls or messages.

As for land public transport, trains and buses are running near empty, most taxi drivers are waiting for hours for passengers at relatively quiet train stations and shopping malls while the rest of the taxis are parked at home or at vehicle yards where hundreds of cabs are mothballed. E-hailing drivers should thank their lucky stars for the few trips they are getting daily.

As for airlines globally, many have gone bust and are unable to refund the huge amount of money paid by passengers and travel agents. It would take a miracle for Malaysia Airlines to continue flying. Before the pandemic, there were almost 10,000 aircraft travelling through the air on average. With the closure of borders and travel restrictions, the number is greatly reduced.

Although Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Nancy Shukri has announced that tour buses can now be fully loaded with passengers and travel freely within green zones, tour operators will be hard-pressed to assemble a group of customers eager to travel domestically when Covid-19 infection cases are disturbingly high.

Many Malaysians have not made behavioural changes in this pandemic. While walking or standing in public spaces, I give others a wide berth, but many would head towards my path or stand next to me. While dining in, I will keep my mask on all the time until I eat or drink, while many others remove their mask to chat excitedly with some bellowing with laughter.

But the silence is eerie at popular attractions that once offered entertainment such as theme parks and also convention centres. Those organising and supplying conventions and exhibitions will lose a total of RM3 billion in revenue this year and have already furloughed thousands of workers.

Countless tourism businesses have been obliterated and workers are out of jobs. Many of those that remain are likely to suffer the same fate as there is a global consensus that tourism will only recover in 2024. Most businesses and people have cash to last only a few months, not years.

It would be preposterous to claim that “tourism industry can survive these hard times”. The fact is that those who continue to operate will accumulate more losses. Only those that stopped operating and are conserving cash will be able to bounce back when people can travel freely again.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.