By Lee San

Do you really need me to tell you how I feel about this pandemic or the state of our travel industry now? To be honest, the entire industry has come tumbling down, and we are already inside the nuclear mushroom cloud! Not long ago, the cabinet appointed a deputy tourism minister, but this gentleman is no Monkey God and we don't expect him to deliver us a miracle anytime soon!

The pandemic has gone out of control at this moment and has taken a heavy toll on the livelihood of the people. To be fair, instead of squarely blaming the Perikatan Nasional government, why don't we just take good care of ourselves first? Moreover, we have never really expected too much from these people in the first place, right? As a matter of fact, be it BN, PH or PN, none is good enough to take up this role to save the people from such an immense disaster. In other words, some of the leaders of this world couldn't be bothered about the lethality of this virus right from the very beginning for their own political interests. So were the people! As for India, we can at best "worry" about them. More importantly we need to worry about ourselves first!

That brings us to the point. Can't you just imagine how bad it is to have close to 5,000 new infections a day? I'm sure you have heard of people around you getting infected with the virus. The victims are getting younger and younger and have to be admitted to a modular hospital. You might have also heard of someone's family members or friends getting infected after just a casual dinner gathering, and then gone. Of course, we all hope this is just fake news, but very often things couldn't get more real than we want them to be!

My friend Alan has lamented: the situation now is so much worse than imagined. Alan has been helping an infected colleague look for a hospital bed with a ventilator all over Klang Valley, but to no avail. Let's face it: no matter who you are or how rich you are, a hospital bed is hard to come by. As the country's medical resources are stretched to a limit, what Alan cannot understand is why there are still so many people hiking in groups during the MCO even though the government has not imposed an outright ban on outdoor activities (but without SOPs) that necessitate the removal of face masks. As a consequence, our medical frontliners have no choice but to work doubly as hard. I can understand how worried they feel!

We can understand that people have been confined at home for too long that they need to venture out of their homes to get some fresh air. So during the recent CMCO, other than organized tours, everywhere was jam packed with people!

Looking back at the RMCO last July, people couldn't wait to execute their travel plans. Businesses were indeed enjoying a brief good time then and many hoped things would get back to normal very soon. What happened next? All our green passage and travel bubble plans never caught up with the actual developments of the pandemic. Domestic travels have been halted for over seven months since late September last year, and there is no end in sight as to when the travel ban will actually get lifted. We really have no idea how to defeat such a powerful virus!

The tourist industry inevitably takes the brunt, and is actually sinking further by the day. Unfortunately our government could hardly be bothered about the plight of retrenched frontline service personnel working so hard for the industry.

What I'm trying to say is that the tourist industry used to be the third largest contributor to the national economy, but almost all the service personnel in this sector have lost their jobs now, including cabin crew, hotel and F&B employees, tour bus drivers, guides, etc. I wonder whether our government leaders know about their predicament. From what I know, Penang and probably a few other local governments have come up with some solutions to help these people. What about the federal government?

What I can say is that there are actually plenty that our government can and should do, and indeed it is their duty to do something. Unfortunately we have a bloated cabinet that keeps changing decisions but never tackles the problems right, squandering not just our limited resources but also sacrificing the precious lives of the people. For instance, subsidies and 'green packets' for civil servants (multiply that by 1.7 million plus 50% retirement benefits) could have been better used to help specific socioeconomic segments in our country. Moreover, these civil servants may not really bother about such meager handouts. I feel that our government has taken too good care of them. All I know is that the government may have to borrow just to feed these civil servants in the event the national economy collapses one day.

Fortunately those travel operators who have lost their jobs are willing to take up any position available just to stay alive. What they worry is that the pandemic could trigger an economic depression that will wipe out any potential job opening.

I'm actually more concerned about the tour guides and professional tour leaders because they have become increasingly vulnerable. You may not know that unlike most regular wage earners with fixed monthly incomes, they are mostly contract workers who are paid as per job assignment. They don't have fixed incomes nor EPF. Thanks to the booming global travel industry over the past decade, they have taken loans from banks to buy houses and cars in hope of enhancing the quality of life for their families. No one would have expected that all of a sudden they would lose their jobs and incomes starting from February 2020, making it hard for them to sustain themselves and their families. So they begin to tighten their belts while looking for alternatives. Unfortunately, the fourth wave of COVID-19 infections is dealing a further blow on them. What should they do now? Where's the minister and travel association? What about the banks?

I myself am actually among those walking on a tightrope right now, but I still keep thinking how we can help those tour guides and tour leaders who have contributed so much to the tourist industry, to sail past this crisis safely. Indeed, travel industry operators worldwide are facing the same insurmountable challenge.

Anyway, bear in mind that we must take the necessary precautions to fend off the virus ourselves before we can protect our families. We must adequately equip ourselves so that when the industry recovers one day, we can fight along together once again!

(Lee San is Founder and Group Executive Chairman of Apple Vacations. He has traveled to 132 countries, six continents, and enjoys sharing his travel stories and insights. He has also authored five books.)