KUALA LUMPUR: The country's tourism industry is on the brink of "total" collapse, according to the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta).
Hence, Matta is seeking direct financial support for the sector in the national 2022 Budget.
In a statement today, the association appealed to Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz to help tourism businesses which were facing extreme financial distress.
Matta president Datuk Tan Kok Liang said the Finance Ministry must be specific in its allocation to not only preserve tourism business and workers but to prepare and empower the industry for a firm recovery.
"Our companies are in bad shape due to regulatory constraints imposed by the government while other countries are recovering at a faster rate in their battle against Covid-19.
"As borders have remained closed for the last 18 months and with just a small travel bubble for Langkawi, we plead with Tengku Zafrul to provide targeted assistance for tourism businesses and workers directly affected," Tan said in a statement today.
This included providing an extension of the wage subsidy and automatic bank loan moratorium and waiver of interest at least until the end of this year for borrowers directly impacted by the pandemic, he added.
Tan said Matta members had taken business loans in 2020 in anticipation that the government would overcome the pandemic.
He said however, until today, tourism activities remained largely restricted and they were made to pay the bank instalments and interest with no revenue.
'How are we to sustain? The irony is that while the greater economy suffers, financial institutions are recording billions in profits during the pandemic!"
"The Ministry of Finance needs to provide practical financial assistance beyond tax incentives or tax rebates or deferment of tax instalments which we are unable to benefit from because tourism companies have already accumulated tax losses in 2020 and 2021.
"By now, we have more than enough tax losses to offset any so called forecasted profits," he added.