2020’s tourism survey report showed that domestic tourist arrivals to Perak have decreased by nearly 50 percent.
Executive Councillor for Housing, Local Government and Tourism, Dato’ Nolee Ashilin binti Dato’ Mohammed Radzi said the number of tourist arrivals dropped to 4.9 million people in 2020 compared to 10 million people in 2019.
“However, the state is still placed second for the highest daily domestic tourists, which was 17 million people in 2020.
“By looking at the daily total, it indicates that the state will remain the main choice of destination for tourists if the Movement Control Order (MCO) ends.
“We understand that the decrease is due to the ongoing MCO. But it certainly won’t break their spirit to revive the economy in this sector,” she said.
The state’s tourism industry players have received assistance from recovery packages under the federal as well as state governments to hold promotional events and activities as preparation for when the sector resumes operation.
“If the sector reopens at the local level, we have some plans laid out for October, such as incentives in the form of vouchers and more to be announced later.
“To date, tourism industry players have received one-off incentives from the state government in addition to those from the federal government. The aid will be able to help them, in terms of financing accommodation, tour guides and others,” she said.