KOTA KINABALU: Former Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew supports the State Government’s intention to reopen tourism, among other service sectors, if at least 60pc of the population is vaccinated.
On Tuesday, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor gave his assurance to tourism players that he will see to it that Sabah’s tourism sector picks up through a comprehensive tourism recovery plan, when meeting with a delegation from the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) led by Datuk Tan Kok Liang who submitted proposals for restoration.
Liew, who is also Tawau MP and Api Api Assemblywoman, said it is heartening to note that plans are afoot to revive Sabah’s post-COVID-19 tourism industry which has been crippled by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.
“For starters, it is ideal and crucial to resurrect the domestic tourism sector prior to the State reopening its doors to international tourists, hopefully before the end of 2022 or early 2023.
“However, the COVID-19 vaccine supply shortage is a setback to the State Government’s efforts to ramp up the vaccination drive. Given the current situation, it is a long queue for the thousands of Sabahans who have registered for vaccination.
“In this regard, we are of one heart and one mind in urging the Federal Government to expedite the delivery of vaccines to Sabah.
“It is a matter of great urgency to arrest the surge of cases and achieve herd immunity by year-end as envisioned by the Government,” she said in a statement on Wednesday.
The CM had called for the Federal Government to speed up the supply of 600,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to Sabah this month and 1.2 million doses by the end of August.
Liew said the Prime Minister had recently launched the National People’s Well-being and Economic Recovery Package (Pemulih) worth RM150 billion, which focuses on supporting businesses and accelerating the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme. “As such, Sabah is upbeat about being replenished with fresh stocks of vaccines as soon as possible.”
According to her, affected tourism players had sent texts to her, lamenting that they are “bleeding to death” as a result of the disruptive and devastating COVID-19 crisis. “As the former Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, I fully empathise with them,” she said.
