Matta seeks direct support for tourism players in Budget 2022
KUCHING: The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) is urging the incumbent Minister of Finance to be upfront in his efforts to help tourism businesses which are currently in extreme financial distress.
“The Malaysian tourism industry is on the brink of total collapse and the Ministry of Finance needs to be specific in its allocation to not only preserve tourism business and workers but to prepare and empower the industry for a major comeback,” said Matta president Datuk Tan Kok Liang in a statement yesterday.
In 2019, Malaysia received 26 million foreign tourists with a revenue of RM89.1 billion, exceeding the exports of palm oil at RM70 billion and rubber gloves at RM22 billion.
“Don’t ignore the industry now just because borders remain closed and because there is not much tourism activity. Our companies are in bad shape due to regulatory constraints imposed by the government while other countries are recovering at a faster rate in their battle against Covid-19,” he added.
As borders have remained closed for the last 18 months and with just a small travel bubble for Langkawi, the Matta president pleaded with the Minister of Finance Tengku Zafrul to provide targeted assistance for tourism businesses and workers directly affected.
This includes providing an extension of the wage subsidy and automatic bank loan moratorium and waiver of interest at least until the end of this year for borrowers directly impacted by the pandemic.
“We have taken business loans in 2020 in anticipation that the government will overcome the pandemic but today, tourism activities remain restricted and we are made to pay the bank instalments and interest with no revenue. How are we to sustain?” he said.
“The irony is that while the greater economy suffers, financial institutions are recording billions in profits during the pandemic.
“The Ministry of Finance needs to provide practical financial assistance beyond tax incentives or tax rebates or deferment of tax instalments which we are unable to benefit from because tourism companies have already accumulated tax losses in 2020 and 2021. By now, we have more than enough tax losses to ofset any ‘so called forecasted profits’.”