KUALA TERENGGANU, Aug 13 — Terengganu will make full use of digital technology to continue to promote tourist destinations in the state as safe and low-risk COVID-19 locations.
State Tourism, Culture and Information Technology Committee chairman Ariffin Deraman, said the effort was important to increase public confidence to travel on holiday in a bid to revive the domestic tourism industry, especially in the island resorts and Kenyir Lake.
“The public should be assured that all industry players have been fully vaccinated and standard operating procedures (SOP) compliance are being monitored strictly by the authorities so that the tourism activities will not result in new COVID-19 clusters.
“We have also been informed by the Malaysian Hotel Association Terengganu chapter that all employees of registered hotels have received their vaccination appointment dates,” he said.
He said this when appearing as a guest on Bernama TV’s Ruang Bicara programme which discussed the topic “Post Pandemic Tourism: Is Terengganu Ready?” last night.
Last Sunday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin said all tourism activities involving homestays and hotels within the same state would be allowed in states under Phase Two of the National Recovery Plan (NRP) for fully vaccinated individuals from Aug 10.
Ariffin, however, said most of the tour operators on the island resorts and Kenyir Lake were not in a hurry to operate as they preferred to make thorough preparations at their respective premises.
“Some premise owners informed me that they want tourists to do swab tests as a precautionary measure as they do not want to risk having their premises closed after re-opening.
“Similarly, the enforcement authorities must monitor the tourist jetties in each district as well as the number of individuals allowed in a boat and ensure that tourists comply with the SOP,” he added.
In a related development, Ariffin said the state government is currently testing an Artificial Intelligence health technology application known as Al Batuk (cough).
“Based on the initial study, COVID-19 transmission in Terengganu was due to inter-state travel, so we want to adopt the technology at the state’s border to be able to detect the health level of an individual.
“This move is to boost confidence of the public to go on holiday in Terengganu as well as to reduce the spread of COVID-19,” he added.
