Penang Local Government Fee used for tourism promotion: MAH Penang

GEORGE TOWN: Monies collected from the Penang Local Government Fee have been used for tourism promotion activities according to Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Penang chapter chairman Khoo Boo Lim.

He said these activities were for marketing and promoting Penang as a top tourism destination in other markets like China and other countries.

He said the monies were also used to get events, like the coming Asia Pacific Masters Games (APMG), to be held in the state in 2018.

One of the marketing efforts being mulled over, he added, was to have advertisements promoting Penang wrapped around the bodies of airplanes.

Another proposal was for the the monies to be used to subsidise direct flights to Penang at US$10 (RM44) but there were no takers as yet.

“So we are coming up with different ideas,” he told theSun.

The Penang government imposed the Fee in 2014 where those staying in hotels have to pay RM3 per room for hotels above four stars and RM2 per room for hotels below three stars.

When the levy was mooted, the monies were initially earmarked for tourism infrastructure projects but the usage has now change to promotional and marketing activities.

Khoo said the industry however did not agree with using the money for infrastructure development, maintenance or repairs as they felt such matters were already under the government purview.

“We felt this was the responsibility of the government and wanted to boost tourism through marketing, promotions and events,” he said,

Meanwhile, figures obtained from the Office of the Chief Minister showed a total of RM19,764,972 has been collected as at Sept 2016 since collection started in 2014 and the monies used for nine activities, namely the Asean Tourism Forum (ATF) 2016, World Travel Mart (WTM) Connect Asia Pulau Pinang, International Tourism Exchange (ITB) Asia Singapore 2016, V-Malaysia 2016, Food Mega Festival, and the APMG2018.

The money also went for payments for promotional and marketing activities undertaken by the Penang International Convention and Exhibition Bureau (PICEB) and Penang Global Tourism (PGT).

According to the statement, the rest of the money will be used for incentives to attract those organising conventions or exhibitions with more than 15,000 persons for three days and for airlines who agree to have direct flights to Penang.