Call for duty free zone for S'wak to boost tourism industry

MIRI: A duty-free zone should be established in Sarawak to further enhance tourism products in the state in view of the proposed Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2020 as announced when the 2018 Budget was tabled on Friday, said Malaysian Association Hotels (Sarawak Chapter) honorary secretary-general John Teo Peng Yew.
He said ideally Miri City can be considered as a strategic location for a duty free zone as it near to Brunei and Sabah.
"Sarawak must fight for a duty free zone with Senadin in Miri City as the location since the area is near to Brunei border," he told Bernama today.
Teo said, there were many products that can be declared duty free such as clothing, cooking ware, cars and food items.
"Langkawi perhaps can be a good model for the management of the duty free zone," he said.
For the record, Senadin is a 20-minute drive from the Sungai Tujuh Custom, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex with more than three million visitors passing that checkpoint annually.
It registered a significant increase in visitors due to longer opening hours since Sept 1, 2015, operating from 6am to midnight from the previous 6am to 10pm hours.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, who is also Finance Minister, when tabling the 2018 budget, said the country will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, the World Congress on Information Technology and Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2020.
The VMY was first launched in 1990 followed by 1994, 2007 and 2014. — Bernama