MCO: Malaysians feel the travel ban blues, but happy to avoid nosy relatives

Many Malaysians are pining for a local holiday, but would have to wait longer due to the MCO.— IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star

Malaysians are feeling the blues amid the travel restrictions that have been implemented worldwide, a new survey revealed.

The majority of respondents (87%) revealed that they were unhappy about not being able to reunite with their families in “The Wanderlost Syndrome” study by travel platform Klook.

More recently, Malaysia has implemented another phase of the movement control order. During this period, all tourism activities cannot operate and interstate travel is not allowed nationwide.

Interestingly, 60% of Malaysians admitted that they were keen to escape from their families to skip family gatherings and potential nosy questions from their relatives.

The study, conducted by YouGov, polled 15,323 individuals in 13 markets across the Asia Pacific region.

In Malaysia, a total of 1,117 individuals participated in the survey, disclosing some symptoms that were impacting them.

Another notable effect of the travel restrictions is romantic dry spells, with 55% of Malaysians feeling that their dating pool has been affected as they now have a lesser chance to meet and date new people.

Other effects include finding it harder to destress from work and feeling frustrated about having to stay home and not being able to travel.

According to the survey, 73% of respondents don’t believe in spending time in their home country as the best way to utilise annual leaves. They think it is wasteful to use up precious day offs when they can’t travel abroad.

“Malaysians have a huge desire to reconnect, explore and enjoy themselves again through travel,” said Klook Malaysia marketing lead Emily Tan.

The survey was conducted through YouGov’s online panel across 13 markets in the region.