The first MCO was issued in March 2020 and, coupled with Malaysia’s closing of its international borders, delivered a hammer blow to Sabah’s tourist industry. Much of it was effectively mothballed.

Visitor numbers in the first nine months of 2020 were down nearly 70 per cent from a year earlier, says David Michael, communications manager for the Sabah Tourism Board.

“Between January and December 2019 we had 4.08 million visitors. For 2020, we only have data from January to September, with 948,651 arrivals [mostly domestic tourists]. For the same period in 2019, the number of arrivals was 3,111,884.”

“[Tourism] was among the first industries to halt when the state government decided to stop flights from China,” adds Michael. By early 2019, an estimated 125 direct flights a week from China were arriving in Sabah. “Subsequently it was Korea, which [with China] were then the countries with the highest cases [of Covid-19].”

China and South Korea were Sabah’s two largest sources of tourists, so the state quickly became very quiet.

“We closed between March and May, and again from last September until now,” says Sylvia Alsisto, wildlife officer at the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary, a highlight of a visit to Sabah for many. “In 2019, we had 135,380 visitors. In 2020, it was 26,841.”

Up a creek without a paddle: Covid-19-era travel in Borneo

Fortunately for its employees, the sanctuary is owned by the Sabah Wildlife Department and doesn’t rely fully on tourism income. “The main funding comes from the state government,” says Alsisto. “Funds from visitors help us in other ways.”

With the latest MCO having been extended to February 4, many tourism operators are not faring well.

“We’re at between 2 to 5 per cent of our regular bookings,” says Fara Asaad, executive director of Riverbug Sabah/Traverse Tours, the main business of which is based on river rafting and activities at the Mari Mari Cultural Village. “We’ve made staff pay cuts of up to 50 per cent and put some staff on unpaid leave.”

The company has had to adapt to survive, even delivering food from restaurants to make ends meet.

Borneo Adventure is a leading tour operator in Sabah and neighbouring Sarawak, Malaysia’s largest state, where the company has its main office.

“We are keeping the [Kota Kinabalu] office open on a four-day week, although people can opt to work from home,” says Philip Yong, the company’s Sarawak-based managing director. “So far, we are committed to keeping all our staff [the company employs nine in Kota Kinabalu], whom we kept on full pay for several months, gradually reducing it to 80 per cent at the present.”

Other businesses have been forced to close, some permanently.

“There are reports that a couple of companies have ceased operations during the MCO,” says Michael. “Many persevere by temporarily halting their operation and converting their businesses by providing essential services and goods while waiting for tourism to reopen again.”

According to The Borneo Post, Borneo Trails Tours & Travel has opened a mini mart and grocery shop, and delivers free of charge in Kota Kinabalu, to keep staff working. Tour guide Anderson Ng makes snacks at home, which he distributes across Sabah, while another guide, Dawn Justin, sells his cookies through social media. Tour guide Leroy Benjamin Baza has begun growing and selling hydroponic vegetables.

Up to January 29, Sabah had had 48,019 confirmed Covid-19 cases, among them the state’s chief minister, Hajiji Noor, and 319 fatalities. Malaysia as a whole has been hit hard by the pandemic. In mid-January, the number of new infections daily was hovering around the 4,000 mark. The current MCO affects several Malaysian states; others are under slightly less stringent restrictions.

In Kota Kinabalu “there are less people and cars on the streets as most businesses and outdoor activities are not allowed”, says Michael. “Only essential businesses are allowed to open.

“Before the MCO, Sabah had been under a conditional movement control order (CMCO) since October. This is when travel is not allowed [between] some identified districts or areas.”

In the period between MCOs, Michael saw life in Sabah return to something resembling normal.

“Many [non-tourism] businesses were in 100 per cent operation and the streets were quite lively. Local tourism activities were going on, and some thrived – especially during the short spurts when inter-district and interstate travel was allowed.”

The local (Sabah and Sarawak) and domestic (peninsular Malaysia) markets have always been a significant part of the Sabah tourism mix. “As international borders are not open yet for tourism, the domestic market will definitely be the focal market [once the MCO is withdrawn],” says Michael.

However, for companies such as Borneo Adventure, which specialises in high-end tours, international tourists were by far the most lucrative customers. Nevertheless, by focusing on shorter itineraries and day trips from Kota Kinabalu, it was able to eke out some returns during the inter-MCO period.

It seems likely some interstate restrictions will remain once the current MCO is rescinded, and it is anyone’s guess as to when international tourists will return.

Quiet falls over Malaysia as residents go into lockdown

“Like elsewhere, we are feeling frustrated with the ongoing circumstances,” says Dorothy Doughty, the Borneo Adventure Kota Kinabalu office manager. “Prior to this second MCO, domestic tourism was the only hope to see a kick start in tourism activity in the state; but the situation and feeling has now changed.”

Thoughts are inevitably turning to how long businesses will be able to survive.

“Six months, tops,” Asaad says, when asked how long Traverse Tours can keep going without tourists.

“The hotels will take a greater hit than tour operators,” says Yong. “I think we have two years, max, before everything slides into oblivion.”

Michael, as perhaps his job demands, sounds a note of optimism. “We believe mass tourism will still be feasible in the future. However, diversifying the markets, the type of tourist – long stay versus short stay – developing more community-based tourism products and spreading tourism to other parts of Sabah will be the key changes,” he says.

Yong believes that the abundant natural beauty of Sabah, often referred to as “the land below the wind” (a term once used by passing sailors – as the area seemed to be spared from typhoons – and revived in the memoirs of American author Agnes Keith, who lived in Sabah before, during and after the second world war), will eventually bring back the tourists.

“Sabah is blessed with so many natural assets, and has healthy wildlife that is easy to view. All of this will remain and will keep people coming back … when they can.”