Malaysia’s tourism, cultural sectors lose 10.5 billion USD due to COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused losses of about 45 billion ringgit (around 10.5 billion USD) to Malaysia’s tourism and cultural industries in the first half of 2020, Bernama news agency has reported.
Malaysian Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Nancy Shukri (Source: www.thestar.com.my)
Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – The COVID-19 pandemic hascaused losses of about 45 billion ringgit (around 10.5 billion USD) toMalaysia’s tourism and cultural industries in the first half of 2020, Bernamanews agency has reported.
Speaking with reporters on June 27, Malaysian Minister ofTourism, Arts and Culture Nancy Shukri said tourism is one of the hardest-hiteconomic sectors and is expected to be the last to recover.
To support the sector, she said the Ministry of Tourism,Arts and Culture would strengthen the domestic tourism initiatives under theCuti-Cuti Malaysia campaign.
The ministry will intensify public relation activities toboost the confidence of tourists to travel again.
Notably, small- and medium-sized tourism entrepreneurs(SMEs) will enjoy soft loans with a minimum of 50,000 ringgit and a maximum of 10million ringgit managed by SME Bank.
Last year, Malaysia welcomed a total of 26.1 milliontourists, raking in more than 86 billion ringgit./.
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The first session of the ASEAN Future Forum 2024 (AFF 2024) in Hanoi on April 23 focused on fast and sustainable growth for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
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The Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) of Indonesia on April 21 lifted its tsunami advisory issued previously following the eruption of Mount Ruang in Sitaro district of North Sulawesi province.
Thailand expects to export about 1 million tonnes of durian, valued at an estimated 130 billion THB (3.53 billion USD) this year, with most of the shipments to China, according to Minister of Agriculture Thammanat Prompao.
The 72nd meeting of the ASEAN Working Group on Intellectual Property Cooperation (AWGIPC) and related meetings are being held by the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) of Vietnam in the central city of Da Nang on April 22-26.
Enhancing regional food security and tackling the pressing challenges of climate change will be key agendas defining Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2025, Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat (lower house) Johari Abdul told the press on April 19.
Malaysian Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Nancy Shukri (Source: www.thestar.com.my) 
