Sabah To Open Up Tourism After 60 Are Vaccinated Says Hajiji

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Hajiji Noor (centre) meeting with the Matta members, led by its president Tan Kok Liang (2nd right) in Kota Kinabalu today. (CM Dept pic)KOTA KINABALU: Sabah can reopen more businesses and service sectors, including tourism, if at least 60% of its population is vaccinated, chief minister Hajiji Noor said today.
For that to be achieved, he called for the federal government to speed up the supply of 600,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to Sabah this month and 1.2 million by the end of August.
“We want to keep the momentum to ensure that people are vaccinated as quickly as possible,” he said, in reiterating his call for Putrajaya to expedite shipment of vaccines to the state.
Hajiji said this when meeting the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) committee led by its president Tan Kok Liang at his office here today.
He added that the state had opened up 151 vaccination centres (PPVs) throughout Sabah and mobilised outreach programmes to the interior but have been hampered by the slow supply.
Also affected by the shortage of vaccines was the public-private partnership Covid-19 industry immunisation programme or Pikas, which was to start this month.
“We want to meet the target of 30,000 people vaccinated daily this month under the national Covid-19 immunisation programme (PICK),” he said.
Meanwhile, to Matta’s proposals on reviving Sabah’s post-Covid-19 tourism industry, Hajiji assured he will see to it that the tourism industry in the state will pick up through a comprehensive tourism recovery plan.
He said under the Bantuan Sabah Prihatin (BSP) 3.0, the government had allocated RM2.88 million through the tourism, culture and environment ministry for distribution to impacted tour guides, dive masters, mountain guides, porters, hoteliers and homestay operators.
The chief minister said he will also be meeting mountain guides soon to present assistance to them and to witness the vaccination programme for tourism operators in the Kundasang highlands. - FMT

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