Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah
KUCHING: The federal government’s decision to exempt Malaysians from paying tourism tax is appropriate and shows its concern for the people.
Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the decision was what the state government had been expecting.
“We are thankful to the government and also Ministry of Tourism and Culture for listening to the people. This is good news to us all. Meanwhile, the RM10 to be charged on foreigners staying at any hotel from one-star to five-star is a small amount,” he said during a press conference on Wednesday night, comparing the value to US Dollar which is only USD2.
At the same time, Abdul Karim hoped that the tax collection would be distributed fairly for tourism industry promotion purposes. Asked on the preparation by the state to implement the tourism tax, Abdul Karim said it is the right of the federal government and the Customs Department who collect the tax.
“The tax implementation proposal keeps changing and I hope this time around it is confirmed so that it will not burden the people. We already have the goods and services tax (GST),” he said.
On Wednesday, Minister of Tourism and Culture Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz announced that Malaysians would be exempted from the tax upon its implementation.
On another note, Abdul Karim said the government was well prepared for any possible impact on the tourism industry following the rabies cases in the state.
“We hope the incident will be under control and that there are no new cases involving humans,” he added.