Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 6): The government has no plan to review the RM10 per room per night tourism tax that applies to foreign tourists, according to Tourism, Arts and Culture Deputy Minister Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik.

Based on feedback received by the ministry, there are no complaints from foreign tourists regarding the tax as the value is at the minimal rate, he said.

"We have no complaints from foreign tourists because the tax rate that we charged is only RM10, or equivalent to US$2.50 or €2.10," he said during the question-and-answer session at the Parliament today.

Muhammad Bakhtiar was replying Kota Melaka MP Khoo Poay Tiong's question, which claimed that budget hotel operators in Melaka have complained that their profits have dropped by 20% since the implementation of the tax.

Khoo said for example, budget hotels in Melaka only charge RM50 per night, and the RM10 tourism tax imposed on the foreign tourists would probably force them to choose better accommodations if they need to pay a higher sum for hotel rooms per night.

"They have lost a lot of foreign business who opted for a more expensive hotel for what they have to pay," said Khoo, adding that the government should also implement a royalty system on tourism tax collection similar to oil royalty paid to oil producing states.

To that, Muhammad Bakhtiar, who is also Balik Pulau MP, said the government has no plan to introduce the royalty system.

"So far we have no plans to do so and we actually use these (collected money) for aggressive promotion and marketing purposes and to maintain tourism infrastructure which will impact all states instead of only one or two," he said.

As of June 2018, the ministry has collected about RM146 million since the implementation of the tourism tax, based on data received from the Customs Department.

The tourism tax, enforced since Sept 1, 2017, applies to foreign tourists. It was reported that local tourists and permanent residents in Malaysia are exempted from the tax

"Foreign tourists don't find this a burden and Malaysians don't have to pay this tax," Muhammad Bakhtiar said.

On May 22, the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents called for the abolishment of the tourism tax.

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