MAH Cares Food Aid Program by Malaysian Hotel Association Selangor Chapter

 Since the outbreak of the  Covid -19 in Malaysia , the tourism industry had been one of  the worst affected.  The severity of the pandemic has seen the entire nation going through various phases of lockdown, restricted movement and closed borders; effectively impending any further sustainability efforts for the survival of the tourism related industry. 

To date, 120 hotels in Malaysia have either temporarily or permanently closed down and the hospitality industry has lost over RM6.5 billion in revenue last year & likely another Rm9 billion or more this year.   This translated to thousands of people in the hospitality industry struggling to survive & feed their families as many have lost their jobs or on minimal pay not to mention having to cope with both mental and health stresses.

Acknowledging the hardship of the fellow hoteliers & the uncertainty of the hotel industry due to the prolonged crisis, Malaysian Hotel Association Selangor Chapter,  once again, rose to the occasion &  with the support of  Selangor Tourism & MAH National, initiated its second  Food Aid program by organizing a fund raising drive for cash & kind. This was inspired by the  great success of their first CSR  initiative with the support of Malaysian AEON Foundation under the capable leadership of the former President,  Datin Yasmin Merican, who  represented  the community efforts of the AEON Group of Companies in Malaysia until April 2021.  A total of 1200 needy fellow hoteliers  who lost their jobs due to the closures of many hotels in Malaysia,  were grateful to receive the  food & essential items for 2 months in  April & May this year when pandemic was at it worst.

With its own MAH Cares program & themed "Together We Deliver to our Fellow Hoteliers", MAH Selangor Chapter managed to raise a total of RM90,000 through the generous contributions in cash & in kind  from Caring Organisations such as Tourism Selangor, English Hotbread, Sama Sama Hotel KLIA, Acappella Suite Hotel,  Dorsett Grand Subang, Silka Maytower, BMC Tours & Travel, MOTAC, Yeo Hiap Seng (Yeo's) and many other Kind Hearted individuals who  had came forward to contribute towards this good cause.  A total of 880 food boxes were  filled to the brim with daily essentials such as rice, eggs, cooking oil, milk powder, sardines, disposable Face masks, Yeo's Cintan Noodles, Yeo's cream sweet corn & packet drinks and many other essential items were distributed to the needy fellow hoteliers in Selangor & Putrajaya last week. 

“The current situation has put so many livelihoods in jeopardy, and with the prolonged lockdowns and borders remaining closed for inter-state travels, it will continue to impact the hospitality industry and those who depend on this industry for their livelihood.  Indeed, we are thankful that there are still very supportive organisations and individuals out there who empathise with the on-going situation and willingly stepped in to contribute towards our program," said Datin Jasmine Abdullah Heng, Chairman of MAH Selangor Chapter.

 “A big Thank You to Tourism Selangor for their generous contribution & to the Board members of MAH both at the National Level & the Selangor Chapter as well as to   Francis Alberto at the Secretariat who have worked tirelessly in coordinating the distribution of the food aid boxes. Certainly team work such as this during times of need makes a difference to the needy regardless of gender, race or nationality as we work together to advocate "MAH Cares" to weather this storm together & continue to support our members & the industry as well as to work closely with the government to ensure the survival towards a steady recovery of the hotel industry,” added Datin Jasmine

At the same time, MAH Selangor Chapter,  apart from supporting & promoting  the tourism campaign developed by Selangor Tourism, “Pusing Selangor Dulu" to create awareness & drive tourism to Selangor, is also working closely with MAH's  Tourism Recovery Committee  to formulate strategies that would drive the impending recovery of the tourism Industry in Malaysia. 

Recognising that the road to recovery  for the Tourism & hotel industry is still bumpy & uncertain with the Covid-19 situation & economic downturn in Malaysia , we sincerely hope that new Government will urgently look into our Appeal for support in term of promotional & marketing funding support for the hospitality industry  ,better discount or subsidies for hotels  in Electricity, wages , government levies etc etc  to avoid more closures of hotels. We also hope that all  relevant stakeholders in the government will  align  with the Hospitality players  to work  on the Mission of reviving the hospitality industry which was one of the key  economic driver in Malaysia contributing 5.9 percent to its GDP and employing close to a quarter of the workforce in Malaysia prior to the pandemic.