Empty lanes: Only a handful of visitors are seen at the Penang Hill lower station during school holidays after Hari Raya in George Town. — CHAN BOON KAI/The Star
GEORGE TOWN: The tourism industry in Penang experienced a downturn during Hari Raya, as numerous hotels indicated occupancy rates falling below 50%.
Although the festive celebration coincided with a Sunday and a subsequent week-long school holiday, tourism industry players described the situation as possibly the “worst ever” due to the significant decline in visitors.
Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Penang chapter chairman Tony Goh said hoteliers had anticipated at least a 70% occupancy rate during the holiday season, but the actual numbers fell short.
He said the lower-than-expected bookings were believed to be due to many people choosing to celebrate the festival elsewhere, apart from concerns of traffic congestion among visitors.
Even beach resorts that were popular among families during school holidays recorded only slightly over 60% occupancy rates during this season.
Goh noted that a majority of Muslims in Penang celebrating Hari Raya had left the state to ‘balik kampung’, as only a few ancestral homes remain for family reunions here.
“Furthermore, Hari Raya is a time for festive celebration among families and not for holidays.
“Penang’s anticipated 2.6 million visitors during the festive season have deterred many from making the trip due to concerns about overcrowding.
“Heavy traffic congestion on highways had also hampered their travel plans.
“The shortfall of guests by about 30% is the lowest since the Covid-19 pandemic and probably the worst so far,” he said.
Checks with hotels confirmed that occupancy rates were low in the city. A prominent four-star hotel here with some 400 rooms recorded only about a 40% occupancy rate on both the first two days of Hari Raya.
Another three-star hotel with over 200 rooms recorded only about a 60% occupancy rate during the same period.
Goh urged the government to intensify tourism promotions for Penang and enforce stricter regulations on short-term homestays, such as Airbnb, which are competing with hotels.
“Operators of these facilities that are mushrooming are not charged hotel tax and are poorly regulated, some unlicensed even.
“They’re taking away at least 30% of business from properly established hotels that spend a lot on upkeep and meeting compliance,” he said.
Malaysia Budget and Business Hotel Association (Mybha) chairman Andy Lau Eng Leong said while many among the 70-odd hotels under the association would usually be fully booked during major festivals, this festive period saw plenty of rooms available.
“Bookings at our hotels tend to be on a last-minute basis, and some hotels managed to record an occupancy rate of about 90%.
“Despite this achievement, it was not as encouraging as in the past when hotels would be full.
“Other hotels only hovered around 70% occupancy, which was below what we had hoped for,” he said.
Lau said while hotels received positive feedback from the domestic market after the pandemic, the emergence of newer hotels and many opting to travel overseas contributed to competition and the drop in local visitors.
“There is an oversupply of hotel rooms following the opening of several new hotels and many developers are now building residential units that are permitted for short-term homestays,” he said.
Streets and tourist hotspots in the city were relatively quiet over both days of Hari Raya, with minimal traffic and short queues at attractions and food stalls.
Traffic only began to increase late on Monday.
Earlier, the police had announced that an estimated 2.6 million vehicles were expected to enter Penang within six days, based on traffic from the North-South Expressway and federal roads, as Penang shares borders with Kedah and Perak.
