KKCCCI urges tax exemption for these foreign visitors
Published on: Friday, July 28, 2017
Text Size:
Kota Kinabalu: The Kota Kinabalu Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KKCCCI) proposed that the RM10 tourism tax on foreign visitors be exempted for those staying in three-star hotels and below.Its President Datuk Michael Lui said this would ensure our global competitiveness in tourism and boost the Sabah tourism industry which is the main economic contributor to the State.He said KKCCCI welcomed the announcement by Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz that Malaysians are exempted from paying tourism tax for all types of hotel and accommodation premises.
ADVERTISEMENT
Lui said the move complied with the wishes of the people and was consistent with the definition of the tourism tax that should only be imposed on tourists instead of Malaysians.Furthermore, Lui said exempting locals from tourism tax would avoid increasing the burden of Malaysians.
He, however, said the plan to return RM1 for every RM10 in tax per room per night collected to the State Government is too little for the purpose of promoting tourism in the State. "Hence, KKCCCI would like to suggest that RM10 collected to be equally shared between the federal and state governments to develop tourism," he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Lui also urged the Tourism and Culture Ministry to accept the proposal made by both Sabah and Sarawak governments to defer the implementation date to April 2018. He said this is important for the operators to have enough time to install the system, and the Customs Department to set up the mechanism.