Hotels association wants meeting with ministry over Tourism Bill

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) is seeking a meeting with the Tourism and Culture Ministry in an appeal to amend some of the clauses under the Tourism Tax Bill 2017 that was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.
Its president Cheah Swee Hee said, among other things, he is seeking for the tax not to be charged on a per night basis, and for the government not to make premise operators responsible for the collection of the tax.
"We have recently sent a memorandum to the ministry last week, seeking for a proper engagement. There has not been a response yet, but we won't push the government. We just want to resolve this issue.
"We have been briefed last year, but no proper engagement was made. At that time, it wasn't even called the tourism tax, but tourism services fee," he told theSun today.
The bill, which was tabled by Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz, states that the tourism tax shall be charged and levied on a tourist staying at any accommodation made available by an operator at the rate fixed by the minister.
Cheah said taxing tourists based on the nights of their stay would only deter them from having long vacations in the country.
"Hotels feel it is too heavy to impose on a per night basis. Maybe a one time charge per stay, regardless of how many nights, would suffice.
"We are trying to push for tourists to stay longer in our hotels to help boost our economy, and this would only keep them away," he said.
Cheah said while MAH does not object to the bill, it should also not be the duty of the hotels to collect the taxes.
"We don't object to the bill, but we feel it shouldn't be us who collects the taxes," he said.
Presently, only Langkawi, Malacca and Penang charge tourists a tourism promotion fee, heritage tax fee and local government fee respectively, ranging from RM1 to RM9 per room per night, depending on the hotel's star rating.