MERSING, Sept 12 — All the tourism industry players and residents of Mersing Islands who have completed their vaccination against Covid-19 are now ready to receive tourists if these islands are open to visitors under the tourism bubble programme.
Many of them are excited and can’t wait for the arrival of visitors with various preparations made based on the standard operating procedures (SOPs) set by the National Security Council and Ministry of Health.
Mentigi Bay Chalet operator, Hamka Shahar, 39, said he welcomed the Johor state government’s wish to make Mersing Islands a popular destination under the tourism bubble programme in line with the transition to the next phase under the National Recovery Plan (NRP).
“So far, we have been receiving many queries from the public but we have not been accepting reservations yet as we are still waiting for the green light from the government.
“All our 10 workers at this chalet have completed their vaccination and we have been complying with the SOPs and carrying out sanitisation to curb the spread of Covid-19,” he said when met here recently.
According to the Mersing-born, the preparations made include adding seven accommodation rooms based on the glamping (portmanteau of ‘glamorous’ and ‘camping’) concept to attract more visitors to the chalet.
“We are offering 17 rooms and five personal boats specifically for our guests to enjoy the recreational activities such as going round the islands and snorkelling,” he said, adding that the chalet located in Kampung Paya Tinggal was near various amenities including a supermarket, eateries and a fuel station.
On September 7, state Tourism, Youth and Sports Committee chairman, Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi reportedly said that Mersing Islands, also called the Maldives of Malaysia, had achieved 100 per cent vaccination of its 594 residents and resort workers.
Following this, Johor requested the federal government through the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry to consider Mersing Islands as a destination under the tourism bubble programme, thus giving a new ray of hope to the tourism industry players there.
Meanwhile, Mersing district officer, Mohd Radzi Mohd Amin said Mersing Islands should be open to local tourists just like Langkawi Island as this could revive the domestic tourism and economy.
“At the Mersing District Development Committee meeting last month, we agreed to ask the federal government to consider reopening Mersing Islands to visitors” he added.
Tenggaroh assemblyman, K. Raven Kumar said he agreed that Mersing Islands be opened to visitors before the onset of the northeast monsoon season to avoid any untoward incident.
“We believe the islands’ residents and resort workers are ready to receive visitors while we hope the government could give a time alert for them to be ready with the conveniences such as food and beverage,” he added.
Raven Kuma also said that if interstate travel was still disallowed, at least the people in Johor could enjoy visiting the islands which they had been missing when Johor enters Phase Two of the NRP, expected to be soon.
For the record, Mersing has five main islands, Pulau Sibu, Pulau Besar, Pulau Tinggi, Pulau Aur and Pulau Pemanggil.
— Bernama
