The hotel occupancy rate will continue to increase nationally next year when this year's Recovery Motion Control Order (RMCO) is removed.

Domestic & Events Division of Tourism Malaysia Senior Manager Datuk, Dr. Ammar Abd Ghapar said that they are aiming at an increase of 20%, but the current occupancy rate did not appear.

He said the increase in bookings was also motivated by the launch in September for Malaysian Holiday Special Package for Civil Servants to encourage public, particularly civil servants, to enjoy their holidays.

“We request these civil servants who may have been less affected economically and some of them also get bonuses, to travel and help the country’s tourism industry,” he told reporters after the Tourism Malaysia Surfcasting Tour 2020 - Series 3 fishing competition prize giving ceremony at Lumut Waterfront.

In addition, Ammar reminded hotel operators to perform disinfection exercises to increase the interest of visitors to stay in their premises.

“We will not compromise and insist that standard operating procedures (SOPs) should always be adhered to. For example, in today’s fishing programme each participant was placed 1.5 metres apart,” he said.