Malaysians are exempted from tourism tax: Nazri

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians are exempted from paying the Tourism Tax in any accommodation premises nationwide.
Foreign tourists however will be charged a flat rate of RM10 per night per room in all accommodations except for premises with less than five rooms.
Stating this, Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz (pix) said the decision on exempting locals and fixing a flat rate on foreigners was taken after a series of engagements with all stakeholders – including tour operators, Royal Malaysian Customs Department and state authorities.
"The flat rate mechanism will ease the Customs' collection duties and at the same time make it easier for the ministry to make estimates," he told the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was responding to Anthony Loke Siew Fook (DAP-Seremban) who asked on the latest implementation status of the Tourism Tax, commonly known as bed tax.
Under the initial plan, tourists will be charged RM2.50 per room per night for non-rated hotels, RM5 for two-star hotels, RM10 for three-star hotels, RM15 for four-star hotels and RM20 for five-star hotels.
Initially, the tax was to be imposed upon both domestic and foreign tourists.
This led to concerns from various industry players on the impact of this tax on domestic tourism, after which the government said locals staying at hotels rated three stars and below will be exempted from the tax.
However today, Mohamed Nazri reiterated that locals are exempted from this tax at any hotel or lodge.
He said the government has also revised downwards its annual tourism tax collection to RM210.96 million based on average occupancy rate of 60% from a total of 237,391 rooms in accommodation premises registered under the ministry.
"We expect the collection to be more than the estimates, if more accommodation premises come forward to register with the ministry, in line with the Tourism Tax Act 2017," he said.
Mohamed Nazri had in April said the government will raise RM654.62 million from the tax with a 60% occupancy rate, despite industry experts stressing that occupancy rate for most local hotels has been between 35% and 40% in recent years.