Businesses in Johor expect to get boost from land VTL scheme

JOHOR BARU • The expansion of the vaccinated travel lane (VTL) for land crossings to all vaccinated Malaysians and Singaporeans will bring Johor closer to a full economic recovery, said commerce groups in the southern Malaysia state.

Johor Indian Muslim Entrepreneur Association secretary Hussein Ibrahim said the land VTL has already helped to spur the economy, with many businesses finally seeing improvements.

"We are seeing positive signs in the past two months after the VTL-Land was implemented. I believe we could see more improvements after Dec 20 as more people will be allowed to travel," he said.

On Tuesday, both countries announced that all Malaysian and Singaporean citizens would be able to cross the Causeway via the land VTL from next Monday.

However, Malaysia's International Trade and Industry Ministry said travellers are required to be fully vaccinated and unvaccinated children below the age of 12 have to be accompanied by fully vaccinated parents or guardians, adding that travel will still be limited to only bus transportation.

When the land VTL was first launched on Nov 29, entry into Malaysia was limited to Malaysians, permanent residents and long-term pass holders.

Johor Indian Petty Traders and Small Business Association chairman D. Ravindran said small businesses expect to see better sales once the land VTL is opened to all categories of travellers.

Tourism Johor director Suhairi Hashim said the tourism sector here had been doing well of late, with hotels in Johor achieving a 70 per cent take-up rate since last month.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK