LAST month, a letter “Let Covid-19 purge the tourism industry of zombies” was published in a daily, which questioned the government for promoting and facilitating tourism with incentives, overseas advertising campaigns and even direct input of public money.
The writer blamed the ills of tourism on “zombies” in the same manner preachers expediently put the blame on the devil for sins committed by the congregation. Those who have accepted the latter would readily accept the former.
But I am not into this imaginary blame game more so when tourism is not a single industry, but a wide range of activities that sprawl across many businesses and overlap industries with different sectors and players, each with its own idiosyncrasies.
According to the latest Tourism Satellite Account released annually in September by the Department of Statistics, inbound and domestic tourism expenditures totalled RM170.4 billion in 2018, and 3.5 million persons or 23.5% of the workforce are employed in tourism.
Those who could not see the big picture tend to paint with a broad brush. It is akin to touting capitalism earlier but denouncing it now because many people throughout the world are suffering amid the pandemic due to systematic failure.
Like many matters, tourism is a double-edged sword that can cut both ways, just as a coin has two sides. Much like automobiles that are meant to serve as transport and weapons for defence, they have killed millions in times of war and peace.
Authorities that could not care less have often chose banning outright for expediency instead of controlling, which requires a lot of hard work.
Weaker tourism industry players are being decimated by the pandemic, but those capable of rising from the ashes deserve help.
Otherwise, more than a million local tourism industry workers will be out of jobs with nowhere to go and unable to fend for themselves. On the other hand, the velocity of money can be increased dramatically by tourism, resulting in speedier recovery of our economy.
Should an effective and affordable vaccine or treatment be found for Covid-19, tourism could recover faster than any other industry, bringing along with it the much needed robustness for our financial system, getting people back to work and putting food on the table.
CY Ming
Ampang
