By Nancy Nais
KUCHING, Mar 2: The Sarawak government has to fork out an average of RM30 million every two months to pay 84 hotels that have been designated as Covid-19 quarantine centres.
Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Sarawak Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said quarantine centres were part of the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) stringent standard operating procedure (SOP) to protect the safety of Sarawak’s people and also visitors who came in.
“I don’t mind to share this information that Sarawak government has to pay more than RM30 million every two months to the hotels.
“Apart from protecting Sarawak against the Covid-19 virus and helping the hotel industry by designating them as quarantine centres, the ministry also came up with other short term recovery measures to support the overall tourism, arts and culture industry.
“They include building confidence to travel through stringent SOPs endorsed by SDMC, discounted travel incentives through Sia Sitok Campaign to promote domestic intra-state travel, incentives to encourage home-grown business events, continuous capacity building and research to prepare for the return of tourists,” Karim said during the launch of Kuching Metro electric city bus this morning.
To-date, a total of 84 hotels in Sarawak are designated quarantine centre with Kuching (19), Miri (12), Bintulu (37), Limbang (4), Sibu (3) Sarikei (2), Betong (5) and one each in Serian, Mukah and Sri Aman. — DayakDaily
