MACEOS calls on government to fully reopen Malaysia's borders in March

The Malaysian Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS) has urged the Malaysian government to reopen Malaysia’s borders as early as 1 March without the need for mandatory quarantine. The association called on the government to make the move in line with the National Recovery Council’s (NRC) recommendation of 8 February. Prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has indicated that the Cabinet had yet to discuss the NRC’s recommendation. MACEOS president Francis Teo (pictured), said: “MACEOS fully supports the decision to reopen Malaysian borders as this is the next step towards economic recovery. With international travellers allowed to enter Malaysia without quarantine, we can activate business events again, of course, taking every necessary action to strengthen event safety, protect public health, and instil confidence in everyone.” Teo added he looked forward to working closely with the authorities to develop stronger precautionary measures, if needed, to ensure the hassle-free entry and stay of business event travellers. “Our members have been closely following the developments of other destinations as they begin to reopen for business events, and we are able to recommend the industry’s global best practices to develop a comprehensive framework addressing the SOPs for Malaysia’s business events industry in the new norm,” he said. Teo was confident that Malaysia and the business events community were ready to receive a new wave of international visitors, adding that the government’s vaccination programme rollout and establishment of SOPs across all sectors were key success factors. Teo noted that the business and leisure tourism associations in the country had united to establish and implement the Travel Safe Alliance Malaysia (TSAM) together to ensure safety and hygiene are optimised in the industry nationwide across hotels, food establishments, convention centres, tours, and transportation,” he said. Teo also underlined that Malaysia’s business events could not be sustained on local participation alone, which contributes under 40% of total attendance – a level below break-even point. Local agents have reported interest from India and Pakistan to bring incentive groups to Malaysia in the first half of 2022, but that is subject, of course, to the opening of borders.