The MAH Run, organised by the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Johor Chapter as an annual run for hoteliers, has broken its own record of participants year on year, with a total of 776 hotel employees in 2024 to 1018 hotel employees in 2025, and 1111 hotel employees this year from 45 Johor Bahru hotels, across different brands from 3- to 5-star hotels and from East, Central to the West Coast.
Pannir Selvam A/L Paliksina Siwalinggam, Johor State Committee chairman for Unity, Heritage, and Culture, as the official representative of the Menteri Besar Johor, Datuk Onn Hafiz Bin Dato’ Ghazi, flagged off the 5km run. He was accompanied by CS Lim, Vice President of MAH Malaysia, and Ivan Teo, Chairman of the MAH Johor Chapter.
Pannir lauded the hotel association for organising a meaningful event that gathered the hoteliers annually through sports.
“This growing participation clearly demonstrates that all hotels in Johor are united and steadfast in supporting our efforts to make tourism in Johor a success. Hoteliers stand at the forefront of delivering exceptional experiences to tourists. Therefore, collaboration between the government, the private sector, and the tourism community is crucial, as the shared goals will solidify our standing on the global stage as a tourism destination not only for now but also for the future.”
“To retain employees, we need to build a sense of belonging. A hotel is made up of people, and creating activities as we do provide a relaxed and energetic platform for colleagues from different hotels and departments to connect, make new friends and experience a sense of camaraderie that helps build team spirit and connections to the wider hospitality community,” said CS Lim, the Vice President of MAH Malaysia. The hotel industry, particularly in Johor, often experiences high turnovers.
The top male runner for the 5km run was handed to Muhammad Hidayyad bin Rohaizad from Mandarin Oriental Desaru, who clocked 20.55 minutes, while Nur Syafiqah Balqis binti Mohd Jalani from Pulai Springs Resort named the female counterpart with 36 minutes clocked in.
MAH Run was the final sporting event in the MAH Johor Games 2026, which was launched on 14th May 2026 and has incorporated friendly competition among Johor Hotels, such as e-sports (Mobile Legends), badminton, pickleball, bowling and telematch, progressively over the months to culminate the run.
LEGOLAND Malaysia Resort was crowned as the overall winner for MAH Johor Games 2026.
Johor has the fourth largest number of rooms in the country after Wilayah Persekutuan, Selangor and Penang, with 18,080 rooms and 96 hotel members with MAH.
With the JS-SEZ, RTS Link and a growing pipeline of economic and infrastructure developments, Johor is seeing increasing demand for accommodation and hospitality services, creating new opportunities for the state’s hotel industry to expand alongside its economic growth.
