COVID-19 HAS TURNED the tourism industry on its head. The concept Responsible Tourism previously only focused on people mitigating negative economic, environmental and social impacts while travelling, but now it has to make room for more pressing concerns.
To restore visitors’ confidence, hygiene and sanitation have been catapulted to the top of the to-do list for many countries, and more iron-clad preventive measures have been introduced to guard against unwanted outbreaks.
Malaysia is no exception.
Penang recently launched the “Responsible Tourism” campaign to assure domestic tourists of health conditions in the state. In his speech, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow explains that, “In order to regain the confidence of our tourists, we need to have a solid standard operating procedure (SOP) which will give them the reassurance of their safety when they visit Penang.”
