Sin Chew Daily

Thanks to the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus, the government has restricted the entry of Chinese visitors from the city of Wuhan and Hubei province. At the same time, the Chinese government is also imposing travel bans on its citizens to contain the spread of the deadly virus. Such measures will invariably deal a severe blow on the tourism industry but nothing comes more important than human lives. Many travel operators have voiced their support for the government's announcement but hope the authorities can keep the impact at the lowest possible levels.

2020 is Visit Malaysia Year and an estimated 36.2 million international tourists will visit the country this year. Unfortunately after the coronavirus outbreak, more than 80% of tour groups have canceled their trips during the first five days of the Chinese New Year holiday. Over the next one or two months, local travel operators will not play host to tour groups from China and it is anticipated that the local tourist industry will suffer tremendously in the short term. In addition to the tourist industry, F&B, hospitality, transportation and aviation industries will all be badly affected.

While no doubt these affected industries will suffer heavy losses, the measure taken is absolutely necessary before the viral infection is brought under full control because human traffic will invariably expedite the spread of the virus and it is utterly essential for us to adopt the necessary measures to ensure the safety of Malaysians and prevent much bigger losses due to uncontrolled viral infection.

Traditionally the first two months of the year are the busiest months for the local tourist industry. However, we have no idea when the outbreak will be put under full control. As such, the government should strive to help the affected operators through their toughest days having to bear the cost of refunds as Chinese groups cancel their trips, such as extending low-interest loan facility and tax incentives to them.

Another thing that should draw the government's attention is the impact of coronavirus on the global economy, Morgan Stanley's latest report shows that economic activities worldwide will slow down as a result of the viral outbreak, and the GDP growth of China for the first half of this year is estimated to be slowed down by up to 1.1 percentage points, and this will affect the economy of the entire world. Nevertheless, as the dynamism to stimulate the global economic recovery is still intact, the economy should be back on the path of growth once the outbreak is fully contained. But again this will depend on how soon this whole thing will be over.

The coronavirus impact on the Chinese as well as global economy should never be underestimated, and the 2003 SARS outbreak should provide a clue to this. In the meantime, impact from the US-China trade war is still very much evident, and the new outbreak will add another factor of uncertainty to the global economy. No one can tell for sure how bad the impact is going to be, but it is important that the government ready itself for the worst.

We need to reiterate here that we all must adhere to the highest levels of hygiene in battling the virus while the government must act professionally when releasing any information or drawing up any policy on fighting the 2019 novel coronavirus.  The health of Malaysians and the country's overall interest must be placed above everything else!