Abang Johari unaware of trip cancellation by Chinese tourists

KUCHING: Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg yesterday said he was not informed that 3,000 tourists from China had cancelled their trips to Malaysia due to the impending implementation of Tourism Tax on July 1.

As such, he declined to offer comments, saying it would be unfair to do so when he had no idea about the incident.

“I don’t know. I don’t know the detail. I can’t comment if I don’t know the facts. Be fair lah,” he said when met by reporters at his Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching here yesterday.

He was asked to respond to a news report which quoted Gracie Geikie as saying that 3,000 tourists from China had cancelled their trips to Malaysia because they would be expected to pay tourism tax estimated at about RM100,000.

Gracie, who is Malaysian Associat ion of Convent ion Exhibit ion Organisers and Suppliers’ ( Maceos) acting vice president for conventions and PCM ( professional conference management) trainer, told reporters in Miri about the cancellation on Sunday.

According to her, a friend who is running a travel agency revealed the cancellation to her. She added that the group of 3,000 tourists from China had picked Thailand as their destination instead.

The news report pointed out that four and five- star hotels in Malaysia will impose RM15 and RM20 respectively per room per night when the Tourism Tax comes into effect. Gracie was also quoted as saying that the RM20 tax for five- star hotel guests did not include Goods and Services Tax ( GST) of six per cent, which is RM1.20.