Reports by HEMANANTHANI SIVANANDAM, RAHIMY RAHIM, NURBAITI HAMDAN, JOSEPH KAOS Jr, ALLISON LAI, JUSTIN ZACK, CLARISSA CHUNG, CHEONG JIN WEI and NG ZHE QUNKUALA LUMPUR: Tour operators, facing cancellations by over 3,000 tour groups, are asking for soft loans from the Finance Ministry to tide them over during the current coronavirus crisis. “We have lost about 3,000 groups, mostly from mainland China, from Jan 28 to the end of March. “Otherwise tour guides and bus drivers would have to look for different jobs, ” she said. Ng said that during the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic in 2003, many industry players lost their Chinese-speaking tour guides and some had to sell off their buses and coaches. I had about 40 tour guides but I lost about 40% of them during that time.

Source: The Star February 05, 2020 21:00 UTC