SUBANG: Tourism sector players want to see a lower tourism tax rate and more training for those in the industry affected by the Covid-19 outbreak.
Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry secretary-general Datuk Dr Noor Zari Jamat said these were among the suggestions raised, and the ministry had presented them to the Finance Ministry to be reviewed for the soon-to-be-announced economic stimulus package.
“For example, the industry players want the government to reduce the tourism tax of RM10 to a reasonable value. They also asked for training programmes to be given for those in the industry to enhance their skills when faced with similar situations like now,” he said in a press conference after the launch of Firefly Airlines and Tourism Malaysia’s Langkawi Discovery livery at Subang Skypark here today.
Also present were Tourism Malaysia director-general Datuk Musa Yusof, Kedah Youth and Sports, Tourism and Art, and Culture, Entrepreneurship Development Committee chairman Mohd Asmirul Anuar Aris and Firefly chief executive officer Philip See.
Another suggestion raised, Noor Zari said, was to get the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) to provide the funding needed to hold the training programmes.
On Feb 14, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad would announce an economic stimulus package on Feb 27 to mitigate the adverse external economic impacts brought about by the Covid-19 outbreak.
Earlier, Noor Zari expressed his hope to boost domestic tourism for Visit Malaysia Year 2020, focusing on attractive packages to tourists from Asean countries to visit Malaysia.
“Last year, more than 65 per cent (of tourists) who came to Malaysia were those from the Asean region. We will continue to promote to our neighbouring countries and at the same time to identify new target (market) in the Middle East and India. From 2018 to last year, we saw tourists from India rose to 20 per cent,” he said.
On the Langkawi Discover campaign, Noor Zari said the ministry hoped it could increase tourist arrival to the island by 20 per cent.
The offers available under the campaign include Firefly giving a 30 per cent discount for travel packages to Langkawi or opt for flight and hotel stay for three days two nights in Langkawi for RM211.
Bookings can be made from Feb 17 to 21 while travel period is until June 30.
Based on Langkawi-Insight.com, it said the total number of tourist arrival in Langkawi in 2017 was 3.7 million.
It was reported that the government was targeting RM9 billion in tourism revenue in Langkawi by 2020 fuelled by the latest terminal expansion at the Langkawi International Airport (LGK).