JOHOR BARU: The lack of tour bus drivers in Johor is proving to be quite the hurdle in the local tourism industry’s recovery efforts.
When the Covid-19 pandemic first struck and the sector became stagnant, many of these drivers were forced to look for other jobs in order to survive, said Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association’s (MCTA) Johor chapter chairman Edwin Tay.
“We do not blame them for doing so because they had to do what it took to survive and feed their families.
“While we are happy that the tourism sector has finally rebooted after two-and-a-half years, we are now facing the issue of staffing, especially with tour bus and van drivers. Only a handful of them have chosen to return to the industry,” he said in an interview.
Tay said besides drivers, the whole sector is also lacking in office staff such as tour agents and administrative clerks.
“They are adopting a wait-see-attitude as overall, the sector has not stabilised yet,” he said.
The situation, he added, has indirectly affected the booth take-up rate at MCTA’s upcoming travel fair at Sutera Mall on July 29 and 30.
“Travel agencies cannot afford to take up too many booths as they don’t have enough staff to handle the crowd,” he said.
Tay said he hopes the government could assist by introducing a policy that makes it attractive for jobseekers to enter the tourism sector, which also spurs the country’s economy.
Johor Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) deputy chairman Kathryn Lee said the main reason for the lack of staff is salary.
Many tour bus drivers, travel agents and tour guides do not want to return to the tourism sector because they have found new sources of income, she said.
“They have gone into ecommerce, ehailing as well as the insurance and property industries in the past two years. We cannot compete with the income offered by those industries,” she added.
The organising chairman of the Johor Baru MATTA fair from Aug 5-7 at Austin International Convention Centre here, however, said she is confident that the tourism sector will recover.
