Datuk Christina Liew
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has yet to receive its 50 per cent share of the tourism tax revenue from the Federal government, says Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew.
Liew, who is also the state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, was clarifying a statement by Sarawak Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah on Jan 4 that Sabah had received the tourism tax from the Federal government.
“Sabah has yet to receive its share of the tourism tax revenue owed to the state,” she told reporters after opening the N15 Api-Api Community Development Leader Unit here yesterday.
However, Liew also welcomed the statement by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng that the distribution of 50 per cent of the 2018 tourism tax revenue will be made to all state governments in the first quarter of 2019.
On Jan 6, Lim said the accounts on the 2018 tourism tax collection would be finalised soon and the Federal Government had yet to distribute any tax revenue to the state governments.
Liew said based on estimates by the Sabah Tourism Board, the tourism tax revenue owed to the Sabah government is RM2.2 million from Sept 1, 2017 to Dec 31, 2017, and RM12.5 million from Jan 1, 2018 to Dec 31, 2018.
“We (Sabah) are looking forward to receiving our 50 per cent share of the 2018 tourism tax revenue,” she added.
Liew said the tourism tax revenue channelled back to the states is meant for funding tourism promotion efforts, refurbishing tourism facilities and building tourism infrastructure.
She said under the revised Tourism Act 2017, implementation of the tourism tax came into effect on Sept 1, 2017 with each foreign tourist charged a flat rate of RM10 per room per night for all classes of hotel accommodation.
“These include hostels, hotels, inns, rest houses and lodging houses. Local tourists are exempted from paying the tax. There are over 11 million hotel rooms in the country, about 75 per cent of the rooms are available in the Peninsula while the remaining 25 per cent are in Sabah and Sarawak,” she explained. — Bernama