States to benefit from sharing tourism tax equally — MATTA

KOTA KINABALU: The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) welcomes the announcement by Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday that state governments are to receive half of the RM10 tourism tax (TTx) collected.

MATTA president Datuk Tan Kok Liang said it is certainly a right move in empowering the states to be more involved with tourism, which brings immense opportunities and economic benefits to its people.

“The additional funds would allow the states to showcase areas in their own backyards they know best. Each district can develop a strong ecosystem to attract and ensure visitors enjoy their stay so that they will want to come back for more and recommend to others,” he said.

According to him, State Tourism Organisations (STOs) could now be more aggressive in overseas promotions and collect more TTx from increase of foreign visitors; invest in tourism infrastructure development; and digital marketing that includes development of destination apps for every district to provide information and allow on-the-spot bookings.

“A portion of the extra fund should be allocated for human capital development to train frontliners to provide better customer service, including learning to communicate in basic foreign languages, which will surely delight tourists,” said Tan in a statement yesterday.

He said for visitors to feel comfortable in any given place, five fundamentals must be in place. They are safety, security, hygiene, cleanliness and courtesy. While our country is generally safe and secure for both locals and visitors alike, the same cannot be said of hygiene and cleanliness in some areas.

Tan added MATTA has 13 chapters nationwide and is ready to work closely with the STOs. Tourism in the state and districts will thrive if it is sustainable, community based, and with both locals and visitors acting responsibly by respecting the local culture and environment.

“Extra funds from TTx are bound to boost the states’ efforts in preparing and promoting what they have to offer to tourists. An increase of visitors not only benefit the tourism industry, it would also have an impact on other industries and states’ economy,” he said.

“From September 1 to December 31 last year, RM4,530,628 in TTX was collected in Sabah, the second highest after Kuala Lumpur. It was a clear testimony of the state’s success in drawing foreign visitors and came as a result of the State Government’s tireless efforts in placing tourism at the forefront,” added Tan.

Mohamad Nazr told the Dewan Rakyat on Monday that the government will increase the amount of tourism tax returned to state governments from RM1 to RM5 for every RM10 of tax collected.

He said the repayment of the tax would be made fairly based the percentage of tourism tax collected in each state.

“Every state can use the allocation to develop its own tourism sector especially for the promotion and marketing of destinations, organising tourism events, human resource development, and small-scale tourism projects,” he said when replying to a question by Loke Siew Fook (DAP- Seremban) who wanted to know the collection of tourism tax since it was implemented on Sept 1.

Mohamad Nazri said the payment would be made every three months directly to the state governments.