SHA welcomes Sabah, Sarawak meeting to discuss Tourism Tax

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Hotel Association ( SHA) has welcomed the plan by the state government to meet with its Sarawak counterpart to discuss the implementation of the Tourism Tax Act 2017.

SHA president Christopher Chan said that it is good for the two states to discuss the issues that will arise when it is implemented. There is also a need to talk with the stakeholders on legal implications that will arise as a result of the implementation, he said when contacted yesterday.

Chan added that hotels in Sabah are concerned about other implementation issues as stated in the Tourism Tax Act.

“The Customs Department is empowered take action against the operator for not implementing the system and this is a concern to hoteliers,” he stressed, adding that: “We seem to be the targeted victim, not the tourist.

“We don’t need this task if we are to put up the work for nothing and get penalised,” he lamented.

Yesterday, Tourism and Culture Minister, Dato’ Seri Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz said the implementation of the tourism tax will be deferred until Aug 1.

Nazri also said the tax, which was to be enforced on July 1, will only affect foreigners staying in all types of hotels, while Malaysians staying in hotels that are rated three-star or below will be exempted.

The Padang Rengas MP said the tax would be divided into four categories – charges for five- star hotels would be RM20, RM10 for four stars, RM5 for three stars, and RM2.50 for two stars and below.

When asked if the taxes will be diverted to the respective states where they were collected, Nazri said: “For that you’ll have to ask Customs ( Royal Malaysian Customs)”, adding that the agency was in charge of collecting the tax.

Meanwhile on Monday, Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun said he will be meeting the Sarawak government on the matter to create a proposal that would benefit both states to be presented to the Federal government.

“It is a preliminary meeting. What we want is common ground,” he said.

He also said the Act could be modified to give better advantage to Sabah, Sarawak and the whole country.