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Malaysia was ranked the first position in the Global Muslim Travel Index 2019 (Global Muslim Travel Index, 2019). Besides, the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019 ranked Malaysia at 29th out of 140 countries overall (Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, 2019). In the same report, from Travel and Tourism Policy and Enabling Conditions’ perspective, Malaysia was ranked at the 11th position (Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, 2019). Government of Malaysia has, among others, announced year 2020 as the Visit Malaysia Year to attract more tourists. The first month of the year had showed promising numbers of tourists’ arrivals. However, towards the end of January 2020, CoVID-19 outbreak presents the tourism industry with a major challenge. Following the outbreak, some countries have banned the arrival of tourists from certain countries. Accordingly, this has somehow affected the hotel industry. Based on feedbacks from hotel employees, this paper examines the preliminary effects on hotel industry in Sabah, Malaysia. Keyword: Sabah, Malaysia, COVID-19, Tourism, Economy, Impact. Introduction Malaysia was ranked the first position in the Global Muslim Travel Index 2019 (Global Muslim Travel Index, 2019). The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019 ranked Malaysia at 29th out of 140 countries overall (Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, 2019). In the same report, from Travel and Tourism Policy and Enabling Conditions’ perspective, Malaysia was ranked at the 11th position (Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, 2019). The country was also ranked 22nd in the world by tourist arrivals in 2018 (World Bank, 2019). The year 2020 has been chosen as Visit Malaysia Year to promote Malaysia’s tourism. The first month of the year had shown interesting trend based on the number of tourists’ arrivals. However, towards the end of January 2020, the Corona virus (CoVID-19) outbreak presents the tourism sector with a major challenge. In this regard, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has strengthened its collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) with the former calling for solid international leadership and for tourism International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 1 0 , No. 11, 2020, E-ISSN: 2222-6990 © 2020 HRMARS 773 to be included as a priority in future recovery efforts since it is currently one of the most seriously affected sectors. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, some countries have shut their borders and banned the arrival of tourists from certain countries. Apparently, this has severely affected many economic sectors especially tourism. For the state of Sabah, Malaysia, the state government has banned tourists from certain countries from visiting the state, while some big events have been postponed. Being an open economy where international trade (Idris, 2016) and tourism sector is one of the important contributors to the economy, CoVID-19 somehow affect the sector performance. The objectives of the study are as follows: • To examine the preliminary effects of CoVID-19 on hotel industry during premovement control order period based on the feedbacks from hotel employees in Sabah. • To study the preliminary concern of hotel employees during pre-movement control order period Literature Review Considering the outbreak of Covid-19 is relatively new, there appears to be limited studies on this subject though some related studies or report can be found such as ADB (2020), KPMG (2020), International Labor Organization (2020) and Congressional Research Service (2020). By and large, they are not as rigorous as studies on other diseases and their impacts on economy. Methodology This research conducted a survey involving 100 workers of hotels in Kota Kinabalu, Tawau and Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia to obtain feedbacks on their views related to the effects of CoVID19 outbreak on hotel industry up to the end of February 2020. Results Figure 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 show some of the key findings of the study. Figure 1 depicts the input given by respondents with regard to the degree of effects of Covid-19 on the hotel’s business. The chart shows that 84% of the respondents indicated that their hotels businesses had suffered a major effect from Covid-19 outbreak. 11% believed that it was a moderate effect while the other 5% expressed that it was just causing a minor effect (as at the end of February 2020). In general, majority of the respondents felt Covid-19 caused a major effect. Figure 2 shows which month of the year is the worst in terms of the effect of Covid19. All the respondents expressed that February 2020 was the worst as opposed to the month of January 2020. This can be attributed to the banning of tourist’s entry from certain countries. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 1 0 , No. 11, 2020, E-ISSN: 2222-6990 © 2020 HRMARS

Covid-19 Outbreak in Sabah: A Prelimiary Survey on its Effects on Hotel Industry & Some Key Concerns During Pre-Movement Control Order Period