Positive insight: Teo (left) and chia.
JOHOR BARU: It is a busy time for hotels here as there is a surge in demand driven by back-to-back festivities and school holidays.
Malaysian Association of Hotels Johor Chapter chairman Ivan Teo said the Asean Tourism Forum next month has also contributed to the increase in room bookings.
“The occupancy rate for hotels here, especially those in the city area, has always been high during festive seasons.
“Apart from the close gaps between Christmas and Chinese New Year, Johor will also be hosting the Asean Tourism Forum and this has driven the demand up further,” he said, adding that there is also a steep rise in hotel rates due to the high demand.
Chinese New Year next year falls on Jan 29.
Teo said the 30-day visa-free benefit for Chinese citizens has been a boost to the tourism sector, contributing to the rise in hotel bookings.
“Apart from Malaysia, other South-East Asian countries including Singapore also made the same offer to Chinese tourists.
“This has helped to bring in more Chinese visitors because they are more likely to travel to Malaysia since they are already in the region,” he added.
To cope with the rising demand, Teo said he hopes the Human Resources Ministry would ease the process of hiring foreign workers, particularly for the “dirty, dangerous and difficult” jobs.“The lack of manpower will continue to be a challenge for us, and we hope the government can help,” he said, while appealing to the ministry to guide them through the process of getting foreign workers, claiming that the current process is tedious.
Malaysia Budget and Business Hotel Association Johor Chapter chairman Jarod Chia said budget hotels are also seeing an increase in bookings.
“For now, between Christmas and New Year, we are seeing a significant number of bookings, and we expect occupancy rates to climb further as the celebrations draw closer,” he said.
Chia said the one-week school semester break has also contributed to the rise in hotel bookings.
“Business will usually slow down during Chinese New Year as most people go back to their hometowns, but it will still be relatively better than normal days,” he added.
“We hope to continue seeing the number of bookings increase throughout the year.”
