KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government must look into speeding up the opening of tourism to international travel by putting in place incentives for vaccinated travel lane (VTL).

       Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Jafry Ariffin said that he wants the VTL routes to be implemented to help the recovery of Sabah's tourism industry.

       He said his ministry has asked the Sabah Covid-19 Disaster Management Committee to conduct a study and further consider the implementation of the VTL-Air initiative with Singapore.

       Jafry said it was time for Sabah to follow the steps of several states such as Penang which will start the VTL initiative from March 16.

       "We need to revive economic and business networks between the two countries, especially the tourism sector, which was badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic," he said in a statement Sunday (March 16).

       He explained that the ministry is now just waiting for permission from the Sabah Covid-19 Disaster Management Committee to do so.

       "I am confident that the ministry and all tourism industry operators in Sabah are ready to accept foreign tourists followed by stricter standard operating procedures to prevent the spread of Omicron variants in the state," he added.