MIRI: The Sarawak chapter of the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) wants the federal government to conduct a study on the proposed departure tax for outbound travellers before deciding to implement it as the move could financially affect Malaysians going overseas for non-tourism purposes.
Its honorary secretary-general, John Teo Peng Yew said although the main purpose of the tax was to boost domestic tourism, the federal government should consider or review certain criteria so that it would not financially burden those travelling abroad, especially the low income earners.
“The federal government should look into the poorer citizens travelling out of the country because of studies and other purposes that are not related to tourism,” he told Bernama here yesterday.
Teo said the departure tax was not a new thing in the aviation industry as most countries had imposed similar tax ranging from US$20 to US$60, but implementation of the tax would likely to have a minimal impact on domestic tourism.
He hoped collection from departure tax would be used to enhance tourism-related facilities such as expanding WiFi coverage to cater to the need of Internet savvy tourists. He said the government should also use the revenue from departure tax to upgrade facilities at entry points to the country to ensure faster immigration and customs clearance.
“Hopefully more tourist police can be provided at places of interests so that the tourists will feel safe, and also for repair of run-down tourism infrastructure,” he added.
As for improving the Sarawak tourism industry, he said, the state government should not solely focus on Kuching City as the only destination to promote the state.
He said the state government should also develop Miri as a tourism destination to woo more tourists to Sarawak. — Bernama