Putrajaya Never Instructed Hotels To Close

All hotels in MCO areas can still open as long as they adhere to the government's strict standard operating procedures (SOPs) and the government has never instructed hotels to close following the implementation of the movement control order (MCO), according to Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob recently.

We have never instructed hotels to close, no matter what MCO they are currently under. If there are hotels that are totally closed because of a lack of customers, that has nothing to do with us - Ismail Sabri

Last week, the government also allowed the tourism industry to operate in conditional movement control order (CMCO) and recovery movement control order (RMCO) states. Only those in MCO areas cannot operate — but they can still open since some of them have restaurants that serve food, so there is no reason for hotels to close.

Berjaya Tioman was among the affected hotels and ceased their operation due to the pandemic.

On February 18, Ismail Sabri announced that the tourism and cultural sectors can reopen in states under CMCO or RMCO. Businesses such as recreational parks, theme parks and zoos in these two sectors are allowed to open with condition that they can only operate at half their capacity and must comply with CMCO SOPs.

States that are currently under CMCO are Kedah, Perak, Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Negri Sembilan, Melaka, Sabah and Sarawak, while Perlis is the only state under RMCO.