8/27/2023 0 Comments Malaysia breaking news now![]() Malaysia already has some of the world’s highest alcohol taxes and imposes harsh punishments for drug offences, including the death penalty for trafficking. Kedah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md later clarified that the sale of alcohol in Langkawi is under the jurisdiction of the Finance Ministry, not the state government, and the state government had no authority to interfere with the tourist island’s duty-free status. Tourism Malaysia declined to comment.Įarlier this month, the Malaysian Islamic Party-backed state government in Kedah, home to the popular duty-free resort island Langkawi, caused jitters in the tourism sector when it floated a possible ban on alcohol sales. Tourist industry figures have offered a range of explanations for Malaysia’s weak rebound from the pandemic compared with its neighbours, from poor cost competitiveness to the country’s reputation as a buttoned-up, predominantly Islamic society. Traditional Malaysian homes are popular with tourists in Langkawi [Courtesy of Kit Yeng Chan) Vietnam’s 3.6 million foreign visitors, although short of the government’s target, was about one-fifth of its intake in 2019. Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia - which welcomed 10 million, 4.6 million and 4.58 million visitors, respectively - saw arrivals return to about one-quarter of pre-pandemic levels. ![]() The intake was just about 12 percent of the number that arrived in 2019. Malaysia welcomed about 3 million visitors in 2022, up from 134,728 visitors the previous year, according to Tourism Malaysia. Malaysia reopened its borders to tourists in April, before dropping all vaccination and PCR-test requirements in August.īut nearly a year since hailing the return of international visitors, Malaysia’s tourism sector is not only struggling but playing catchup to its Southeast Asian peers. “Eighty percent of my customers were tourists, and at that time, anyone working in this industry suffered for obvious reasons,” Wilkinson, who also runs the restaurant Heap Seng at 29 in George Town, told Al Jazeera. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – For Arthur Wilkinson, a Penang-born entrepreneur who opened Malaysia’s first flotation therapy centre on his tropical island home, nearly two years without tourists marked the end of the road.įloat For Health, located in Tanjung Tokong, a coastal township on the northeastern side of Penang island, shut up shop for good in January 2021 as border restrictions introduced to keep out COVID-19 reduced customers to a trickle.
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