KUCHING: Seven hotels here have responded to the government's plan to turn hotels into quarantine facilities for people who enter Sarawak starting this Sunday, says Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Sarawak chairman Mohd Ibrahim Nordin.
He said the hotels had submitted quotations to the National Security Council (NSC), and they were now dealing directly with the authority.
Mohd Ibrahim said the hotels are in the city centre but he declined to identify them or their rating. He also said hotels in Sibu and Miri were still considering the move.
He added that most hotels had closed temporarily since the movement control order came into effect on March 18.
"In term of facilities, hotels are ever ready (to become quarantine centres). The Ministry of Health will brief and help the hotels on sanitation requirements," he said, declaring MAH Sarawak's support towards turning hotels as quarantine facilities in the state.
He said one of the guidelines was to sanitise rooms daily. The hotels are to be equipped with individual toilet facilities and hygienic food among other things.
However, Mohd Ibrahim admitted that the hotels were now financially 'bleeding' due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
MAH Sarawak has 85 member hotels with 11,876 rooms. Seven of them are ranked 5-Star, 15 (4-Star), 34 (3-Star) and the rest are of other types including 2-Star and orchid hotels, he said.
There are 596 hotels in Sarawak with a total room inventory of 22,061.
On Thursday Sarawak Disaster Management Committee chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah announced that everyone entering Sarawak, be it by land, air or sea, would be placed under quarantine for 14 days at the quarantine centres starting April 5.
He said this was in line with the federal government's policy that travellers who enter Kuala Lumpur would also be quarantined for 14 days.
Besides the quarantine centres, Uggah said they were also looking for hotels to be turned into quarantine centres at points of entry.
When contacted yesterday Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) Sarawak chairperson Lina Tsen Pei Tsin said they too support the move, describing it as 'last best choice' for the tourism sector.
She said since a hotel is a public area, it is therefore wise to use it as quarantine area and a center to calm down the affected travellers with comfort.
"This is the best last choice compared to using say, non fully equipped hostels with just basic rooms and beds." Tsen said.
How would the move affect hotels and tourism industries in general? Tsen said in the short term people would be staying away from them (hotels) for a while.
"Hotels may also invest heavily on full disinfection after the MCO is lifted," she said.
But the good deeds of hotels in assisting the state to combat the coronavirus pandemic will have a long lasting effect, she said.
"In the long term, people will remember the great job tha t hoteliers do during the Covid-19 pandemic or MCO period," she said.
The generosity and kind deeds of hotels will be remembered and this mean there will be no negative impact on image, reputation and popularity of hotels, she insisted.