Ministry to earn RM210m from tourism tax: Nazri

KUALA LUMPUR: The Tourism and Culture Ministry expects to earn RM210 million in a span of one year from the tourism tax that will be implemented in September.
Its Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said RM20 million will be collected in the fourth quarter of this year, following the implementation.
"We are ready to implement it, and I was informed that the Customs Department are also ready to implement this.
"We have to start somewhere, and if everything goes well, we expect to obtain about RM210 million in the first year of the tax implementation," Nazri said during a press conference after he officiated the Pasareka 2017 (Design Market 2017) at the Craft Complex here.
Under the new tax, foreign tourists will be charged a flat rate of RM10 per night per room in all accommodations except for premises with less than five rooms.
Malaysians are exempted from paying the tourism tax in any accommodation premises.
Nazri said RM1 for every RM10 in tax per room per night will be collected by the state governments for the purpose of promoting tourism.
The rest will be used by the federal government for marketing, development, as well as uplifting significant tourism events held in the country.
"The RM1 that will be given to each state for each tax collection is just a token.
"There are a lot of ways to promote tourism overseas such as billboards or advertisement on national television, we should also enhance our local events such as the Pesta Air Sungai.
"I can use this (tourism tax) money to uplift these sort of events as well," Nazri said.
Meanwhile, Nazri said he supports the suggestion to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the Memali incident.
Nazri, who was the Umno Youth leader during that time, said he felt that police had used disproportionate force against the villagers in the 1985 incident which resulted in the death of 14 villagers and four police officers.
"It was too rough, these are kampung folks, not terrorists.
"It was a disproportionate response from the government at the time, during Tun Dr Mahathir's tenure as the Prime Minister.
"I support the RCI. We are not interested in the cause but we want to know who gave the orders. Mahathir has to answer and we want to hear it," Nazri said.