Initiative to help foreign workers and near-empty hotels

PETALING JAYA: A national initiative has taken off to place foreign workers at hotels temporarily to address worsening Covid-19 figures caused by poor living conditions, while providing a lifeline for near-empty hotels, a move akin to killing two birds with one stone.

This is aimed at addressing the transmission of Covid-19 at workplaces involving workers’ dormitories, said the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry (Motac).

“This is the best alternative at the moment as it will indirectly assist the continuity of the hotel business that is affected by pandemic across the country, ” said the ministry in a statement.

According to Motac, the cost to rent a hotel room will be RM200 per month per person, and there will be an additional RM20 monthly charge for each worker to cover electricity and water.

Other amenities, including laundry and food, would be borne by the employee or the employer themselves, said the ministry.

Hotels that are already registered with the ministry can apply directly via [e-mail].

Hotels that are not preregistered will have to sign up first at www.spip.gov.my before the application to participate in the initiative can be processed.

Interested hotels must meet basic requirements under the tourism accommodation premises application, with relevant information found at www.motac.gov.my/inisiatifhotel2021.

Motac’s joint initiative with the Labour Department of Peninsular Malaysia will be carried out in accordance to the Workers’ Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act 1990.

The ministry said the decision was made during a special National Security Council (NSC) meeting on Covid-19 on Jan 26.

Following the NSC meeting, the ministry said it had engaged representatives in the hotel and tourist bus industries on Feb 4 to obtain feedback on the proposals.

Recently, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said he was concerned over the recent spike of workplace clusters.

Of the 350 new clusters reported between Jan 6 and 22,64.3% or 225 of them were linked to workplaces, he said.