All ready to hit the road come July 31

Malaysians are eager to travel during the three-day weekend break for the Hari Raya Aidiladha celebrations on July 31.

PETALING JAYA: It will be the first “real” holiday for many Malaysians since the movement control order started in March – a three-day weekend break for the Hari Raya Aidiladha celebrations on July 31.

Many Muslims will be returning to the kampungs to celebrate Aidiladha with their families while others are already making plans for outstation getaways as this will be the first such public holiday over three days after interstate travel was allowed again under the recovery MCO period which began on June 10.

Ain Nadjwa Idzwanna Akasah, 24, who works in Kuala Lumpur, said she had made plans to go back to her hometown in Pekan, Pahang.

“Being the youngest sibling, I want to spend time with my parents since my other siblings, who are married, will be away for the holidays with their own families.

“The men in the family would usually go to the local mosque to participate in the slaughtering of cows and distribution of meat to the needy.

“This year’s celebration will mostly continue as normal, but we have to adhere to some personal hygiene and safety practices when we celebrate,” she said.

Though looking forward to spending her long weekend in Pekan, the management trainee said she would be cautious by maintaining social distancing when she was out of doors.

Chin Jien Way, 23, from Kajang, said he would be visiting Melaka with his family for the long holiday.

“This will be our first interstate trip after the MCO and we are looking forward to visiting a nice place.

“We choose Melaka because of its close distance,” he said, adding that he had yet to decide on their accommodation.

Chin, a marketing executive, said his family would be careful and maintain good personal hygiene by wearing a mask and bringing hand sanitisers with them throughout the trip.

But if the Melaka trip falls through, his family would be fine with spending time in Kuala Lumpur since most dwellers would be away, he said.

Photographer Sarah Kamelia Yusof, 25, from Shah Alam, is looking forward to celebrating Hari Raya with her family in Kelantan and helping to prepare a feast.

“But due to the recovery MCO, we will limit our family gathering to only about 20 people so as to adhere to the standard operating procedure.

“For this year’s celebration, we plan on a smaller gathering with no children attending. We will only allow adults to come,” she said.

Undergraduate Lee Li Ying, 23, from Taman Megah here, said her family would be travelling to

Penang to visit her grandmother, having last seen her during Chinese New Year.

“We wanted to visit her during the Hari Raya holidays in May but with interstate travel restrictions and the Covid-19 situation at that time, we decided it was best not to risk her health, given her old age.

“My family is excited to enjoy the wide variety of delicious street food in Penang,” said Lee, adding that they would begin travelling a day earlier to beat traffic congestion on the highway.

Malaysian Association of Hotels chief executive officer Yap Lip Seng said hoteliers were expecting higher occupancy at selected and popular destinations, mostly “drive-to” destinations during weekends.

“We foresee that public holidays and long weekends will generate higher demand.

“Since the relaxation of interstate travel restrictions, we have seen a slow but steady pick-up of locals travelling within the country.

“While the relaxation has created renewed demands, many are still cautious and planning early and carefully,” he said.

Over the last two weekends, Yap said hoteliers enjoyed high occupancy rates at locations such as Penang, Melaka, Port Dickson, Cameron Highlands as well as Pulau Redang and Pulau Perhentian.

“While this is an encouraging trend, as of July 4, overall occupancy is only at 21.5% in Malaysia based on our survey.

“For places like Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, average occupancy is around 16%,” he said, adding that the low rates were mainly due to weekday gaps when hotels were mostly empty.

Although higher demand is expected during weekends and long holidays, the overall domestic market is insufficient for the tourism industry to survive, Yap said.

“Based on our survey, hotels traditionally have a 55% dependency on the domestic market, but domestic tourists have a much lower spending power,” he said.

“We will need to establish travel bubbles of corridors with green countries soon for the industry to sustain,” he added.