Malaysia mulls travel bubbles with green status regions

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia is considering to implement travel bubbles with green status regions in an effort to spur economic growth in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, said Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri (pix).

She said the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry (Motac) was looking at certain green zones instead of waiting for a country to be declared totally free of Covid-19.

“We are no longer looking at the country (as a whole), but more into certain destinations,“ she said, citing Langkawi in Malaysia as a green status zone and Bali in Indonesia as examples.

“If we want to wait for a country to turn into green status, it may change overnight,“ she told a press conference after launching the Meet in Malaysia Campaign here today.

Nancy said Motac and the Foreign Ministry would meet on Monday to discuss and identify the green regions that could collaborate with Malaysia on the proposed travel bubbles.

The proposed regions that Malaysia would be looking at include from Australia, Brunei, China, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

“It will work if the countries agree with each other. We are looking around for countries that can open up their green region to us,“ she said.

Nancy said the idea of having travel bubbles with green status regions was based on the potential of the market to contribute to overall economic growth.

“These include trade activities, business, business travellers and the influx of foreign tourists as well as significant short-term tourism income contribution to the country, by taking into account the safety and health aspects,“ she said.

Nancy, however, said its implementation was subject to bilateral discussions, with paramount consideration given to aspects of health, immigration, data tracking and continuous monitoring by the relevant agencies of the countries concerned. — Bernama